Welcome to The Saturday Spotlight, a weekly feature showcasing debut, Indie, self-published and authors who specialize in Ebook publishing. This week I have the pleasure introducing readers to:
RAY EVANS~Debut Author
Ray Evans author of Before the Last all Clear~Find him at ~Twitter~Website~Goodreads~
Guest Post by Ray Evans 2011
When Tina agreed to feature my biography ‘Before the Last All Clear’ in her Saturday Spotlight, she asked if I would write a guest post. She was very kind and said I could write about any subject of my choosing which left me with a fair challenge though as I tried to come up with something that would interest readers and maybe also give them a bit of a clue as to what to expect from an autobiography of a relatively unknown person. I discussed my quandary with Lilian (my wife) and she suggested I share a little about how my childhood experiences during World War II and the six years I was separated from my family, affected me later in life.
I never considered my story that unusual. I know plenty of people who were evacuated during the war and had heard many a tale told among family and friends over the years, so I took some convincing to even start writing my memories down. When my son Ray and daughter Debbie were young children I used to often recount “evacuation stories” to them at bed time rather than read to them. I would recount some of the funny things we got up to as children similar to their age at the time. As a result and at the time they came to see most of my entire wartime evacuation experience as a big adventure.
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My evacuation ‘exile’ changed me tremendously and at the same time it made me who I am today. I learned to be self-reliant, I also learned that if you want something in life, anything really, the only person who will be truly motivated to give it to you is yourself. I knew when I returned to Liverpool after the war, to a city that was a devastated wasteland of rubble and bombed out buildings yet even at the age of 12, I knew the only way I would survive, let alone ever be happy again, would be to work hard and ‘get out’ as fast as I could.
I had no idea at the time of course where that journey would take me, but I embarked on it with some considerable vigor and voracity. As I've already said, I credit those early experiences with making me who I am today, the good - determined, single minded and tenacious and the bad impatient, a clothes horse (something I was unaware of, until it was pointed out recently and a bit rudely if you ask me by Debbie) and sometimes I’d have to admit, I still have a bit of an inferiority complex that is most surely rooted in those evacuation years. Looking back I couldn't honestly say I wouldn't change anything, I certainly would given the chance of course. But I am at least able to see where those challenges and experiences gave me what I needed to grow and those same things have in many ways been the driving force behind the many successes I've enjoyed in life since, from my very humble beginnings to building a successful business, right down to becoming a published author preparing to release a second book!
Wow- thank you Ray for sharing that inspiring story. Hearing about the war from people who actually experienced it, is always profound. Wishing you the best of success on your second book.
GIVEAWAY
Today Ray is giving away a copy of his biography to one lucky winner. Please leave a comment to enter and a winner will be drawn Nov 5, 2011. Thanks and goodluck!!
Before The Last All Clear by Ray Evans
Published by: Morgan James Publishing
Some recall it as the greatest adventure of their lives. For others, being a wartime evacuee was a nightmare. These are the witty yet deeply poignant memories of a man still haunted by the cruelties he endured. During World War II, around three and a half million British children were evacuated away from possible air raids in the big cities in one of the largest social upheavals Great Britain has ever seen. One of those children was Ray Evans.
This is the story of a young evacuee from Liverpool sent to live in the Welsh town of Llanelli. Separated from his mother, brothers and sisters, six-year old Ray was dispatched to a series of families who ignored, exploited and brutalised him. Pushed from pillar to post, he finally finds happiness with a family who make him so welcome that he is reluctant to leave when war ends. Set in a world of ration books, air-raid sirens and ever-present danger, this is a candid and direct account of wartime Britain as seen through the eyes of a child.
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WWII-Photo Credit-Holme St. Cuthbert History Group
I love this type of book! I would love to read this thanks!
ReplyDeleteMargaret
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This really sounds like it would be an emotional read. It is usually one of those I worry about being too emotional and then get caught up in the story.
ReplyDeleteI'm profoundly interested by the relocation of the children in England during WWII. I think it's because the thought of sending my children away breaks my heart and the thought of having to leave my parents at such a young age would have torn me to pieces. I would love to read this book to get a first hand experience. It sounds like an amazing read.
ReplyDeletejtheunknown(at)gmail(dot)com
Biographies is one the genre I enjoy, so count me in.
ReplyDeletexlacrimax at gmail com
Really great guest post and equally great-sounding book. I've always wondered why there weren't more first-hand accounts of the children sent away from blitz-torn London, and this one sounds like one helluva read.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the giveaway op!
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Lori
Hi, love the post but I'm trying to find out who owns the lovely picture of the evacuees that you've used, so that I can gain permission to use it too. Is it yours, or do you know who owns it or where you got it from? I would very much appreciate your help.
ReplyDeleteKind regards,
Freda
Freda- the link is at the bottom....it was provided by author
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