NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE - MARGARET TANNER

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE OR NOT? MARGARET TANNER

I have to be honest here and say that I have never had a near death experience nor has anyone that I know. Of course, I have read about it in the newspapers, heard it on TV etc.  I am not into re-incarnation, and can’t say I have ever met any re-incarnated person. Well, not that I know of.

I am a believer that when your number is up, your number is up. Well sort of.

The nearest I can come to this topic is to tell you the experience of my father. During the 2nd World War he escaped death several times. Who knows whether it was luck or perhaps he had a guardian angel.

 My father was serving in Malaya in 1941. He climbed up a really high tree as the look-out for his platoon. A Japanese plane suddenly appeared and dropped a bomb. The tree was hit and Dad fell to the ground. He should have died but didn’t. Instead he injured his spine and the doctors at the Casualty Clearing Station thought he must have broken his back, but he was evacuated to the military hospital in Singapore and rather than have a broken back it was discovered that bone had been chipped off his spine.

His next lucky escape came a few days before Singapore surrendered to the Japanese. The hospital was bombed, the roof was blown off and Dad was blown out of his bed and the soldier in the next bed was killed.

A couple of days before Singapore surrendered to the Japanese, Dad and a few other wounded escaped Singapore in a small boat. As they sailed out of the harbour a Japanese bomber flew down low, and they thought they were going to be blown out of the water, but the plane flew off and left them alone.

Then, they sailed around for about 3 weeks, not knowing where they were, but as luck would have it, a passing hospital ship picked them up and took them to Colombo, and they eventually made it home to Australia.

In my novel, Daring Masquerade, which is set during the 1^st World War, and is one of three novels, in a Special Edition to mark the centenary of this terrible conflict, the heroine Harry, has a dreadful nightmare. She sees her husband, Ross, lying in the mud on the French battlefields. At the same time, Ross who in fact has been seriously wounded, believes he is going to die, and there is no use fighting the inevitable. He feels himself go out of his body, then he hears Harry calling to him, telling him not to die and leave her all alone. She beseeches him to fight to survive. He realizes that if he dies out there in no-man’s land, his body might never be found and Harry would grieve and mourn him for years, even as she hoped that by some miracle he might survive. He can’t do this to her, so with a superhuman effort he gets to his knees and crawls back to his comrades.

THE LOVES WE LEFT BEHIND

Special Centenary Edition containing three novels depicting the tragedy and triumph of three different women during the 1^st world War.

 

 

A hundred years ago, from the far flung corners of the British Empire, young men rushed to fight for Mother England. They left their wives and sweethearts behind. Many of these brave women waited in vain for their men folk to return. How did they cope with the loss and heartache? Could they ever hope to find happiness with another man? Three full novels, each telling a brave young woman’s story of triumph over tragedy and adversity. Allison’s War, Daring Masquerade and Lauren’s Dilemma.
 Available in print and E-book format.

 http://amzn.com/B00MASTCHM

 http://www.margarettanner.com/

 

 

 

TRAINS, PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES - MARGARET TANNER

 

STEAM TRAIN TRAVEL - MARGARET TANNER

I don’t have a story to tell about my travels on trains, planes or automobiles, because nothing out of the ordinary has ever happened to me. I am certainly glad I didn’t need to travel on public transport last century. It would have been a very slow, uncomfortable journey, with no air-conditioning in summer, although you could open the windows to catch a breeze. In winter, the only heating they would have had were feet warmers (tin containers filled with hot water or hot coals).

I write historical romance, so there is quite a lot of train travel (of the steam train variety) in my novels. I thought I might set up a few train scenes from three of my novels set during the 1^st World War.

Allison’s War

1914 -The door leading from the carriage slid open and, even with the swaying of the train, Phillip started moving down the narrow passageway, glancing out the window as he did so. They would reach Dixon’s Siding in ten minutes. The conductor had assured him of this a few moments ago, but he was taking no chances of being carried on. If he missed his stop, God alone knew where he might end up.

“Damnation.” The train shuddered and slammed him against a window. As he straightened up, he watched without much interest as two horsemen broke out of the forest. No, it was called bush in Australia, he reminded himself. One must get the colloquialisms right, more advice from Tony. Young fools were racing the train.

Daring Masquerade

1916 - Harry and Ross caught a midday train home. The seats in the first class carriage were upholstered in black leather, the walls decorated with cedar panels, beveled mirrors and pictures of Victorian tourist attractions. Harry wanted to hang her head out the window as they steamed away from Melbourne, but couldn’t risk getting a cinder in her eye.

***

1917 - When they got out of the car at the station Gilbert toddled around squealing with delight as he chased the stationmaster’s cat. The blast of a whistle in the distance and a trail of smoke drifting skywards, had Harry straining her eyes to catch her first glimpse of the train bringing Ross home to Devil’s Ridge.

Lauren’s Dilemma

1914 - They were late. The train, already pulled in at the station, belched out clouds of black smoke. Laurie dashed onto the platform, almost colliding with a signalman who waited with his lamp.

Groups of well-wishers made their farewells to loved ones through the carriage windows. Her hasty glance confirmed the train was full of young men from further up the line, all heading for the army camp in Melbourne. She ignored a wolf whistle from one young man as she rushed from carriage to carriage searching for Danny. I have to find him. It would be awful if he thought she couldn’t be bothered seeing him off.

In desperation, she used their childhood secret emergency signal. Putting two fingers into her mouth, she emitted three loud whistles.

“Laurie?” He poked his head through the carriage window. “Thank God you made it on time.” He gave a relieved grin.

“I wanted to see you off.” Her voice wobbled as she fought to keep it under control. There would be plenty of time for tears later, in the privacy of her room. She wanted him to carry away happy thoughts of her, memories that would sustain him even in his darkest hour. “Good luck.” She forced a smile, vowing to keep it pinned to her mouth no matter what the cost.

“Thanks.” He squeezed her hand. “Remember, you'll always be my best girl.”

“Good luck, Danny.” Matthew Cunningham strolled up to them.

“Thanks, Mr. Cunningham. Look after yourself, Laurie, and don’t forget what I said.” He gave her a quick kiss on the mouth.

The whistle blew several times in quick succession. There was a hiss of steam, black smoke belched from the engine, and then with a loud groan the train started to move. Laurie ran along beside the carriage for a short way clinging to Danny’s hand until the engine picked up speed, forcing her to let go. “Write to me.”

His reply got blown away by the draft from the train, but he waved enthusiastically until the train took a bend in the line. He was gone.

THE LOVES WE LEFT BEHIND

Special 3 in 1 Centenary edition -  A three novel collection, depicting the tragedy and triumph of three different women during World War 1. Allison's War, Daring Masquerade and Lauren's Dilemma.

A hundred years ago, from the far flung corners of the British Empire, young men rushed to fight for Mother England in what was to be known as the Great War, or as we, in more modern times called it, the 1^st World War. They left their wives and sweethearts behind. Many of these brave women waited in vain for their men folk to return. How did they cope with the loss and heartache? Could they ever hope to find happiness with another man?

 

http://amzn.com/B00MASTCHM

 Margaret Tanner writes historical romance. Her favorite period is the 1^st World War and she has thoroughly researched the era. She has had access to diaries of family members who served in this terrible conflict, and has also visited the battlefields in France and Belgium.

http://www.margarettanner.com/

 

VACATIONS - HISTORICAL - MARGARET TANNER

MARGARET TANNER’S FAVOURITE VACATION

I have to say I don’t really have a favourite place for a vacation, anywhere is good for me as long as there is plenty of sun, and I am waited on hand and foot, and have lots of yummy food.

Because I write historical romance, vacations are usually the honeymoon for my hero and heroine, but not always.

In my latest release, Allison’s War, which starts a few months before the commencement of the Great War (1914 – 1918), the vacations are a little different.

The first one belongs to the villain of the piece, Phillip Ashfield, an aristocratic young Englishman, the second one is Allison’s honeymoon, and the third one is Allison’s desperate journey to find her son after Phillip kidnaps him.

PHILLIP

Phillip Ashfield uncrossed his cramped legs and stood up to reach into the overhead luggage compartment. What an imposition, having to manhandle his own luggage.

“Good God, man, when you’re in the colonies you have to look after yourself.” He remembered the advice he’d received from Tony, one of his friends from Eton. How true, the Godforsaken bloody backwater.

If his father hadn’t been so ill, he would have refused point blank to come out to Australia. Had his mother not been so distraught about the old man, he would have ignored her entreaties to visit relatives at the back of beyond.

God, it was hot. The temptation to loosen his collar became almost unendurable. He wore the latest summer fashion for 1914, a three-piece suit with a shaped coat that had a vent down the back. His linen, as always, was the finest money could buy. Neither one helped keep him cool in these temperatures.

TOMMY AND ALLISON

The zoo proved to be much larger than Allison expected. The monkeys and giraffes were her favorites. Tommy insisted they have a ride on the elephant, and as the animal swayed along, they got a wonderful view.

“This is fun,” he said, squeezing her hand. “I like hearing you laugh; it’s such a happy sound.”

“I never knew we could have such an exciting time. Such places we’ve seen! I have to pinch myself to make sure it’s not a dream,” she said.

His teasing smile faded, and his blue eyes burned fiercely. “I’ll never forget, either.”

The bears lumbered around in a concrete pit, and Tommy leaned so far over the edge she worried about him falling in. He laughed loudly at this fear, and several people turned to look at them.

“Tommy, shh, people are staring.”

“I’ll give them something to really talk about.” Quick as a flash he pulled her close and kissed her, and she felt hot all over.

“Well, really, how could a young woman cheapen herself so?” A prim matron with two school-aged children complained to her male companion. “Those young larrikins think they can do what they like, just because they’re in the army.”

Allison’s embarrassment gave way to anger. “I happen to like my husband kissing me. At least he’s man enough to fight for his country.”

ALLISON

At the railway station, Allison spoke to the stationmaster and told him about Paul being taken by an English relative, and he promised to make arrangements about seeing to the livestock on the farm.

What a dreadful journey. She wanted to scream at the train to go faster, and by the time they pulled into Spencer Street station her hands shook and her head ached. A young man helped her off with Daphne’s pram, and then she found herself alone on a platform swarming with people.

The last time she’d stood here was with Tommy, as Jim bid them farewell. She hadn’t known it at the time, but she would never see her brother again. She shivered in the Melbourne dusk, and it wasn’t from cold. Dear God, why wasn’t one of them spared to help? Why did both of them have to die? She closed her eyes, and the noise of busy people was blocked out, replaced by the muffled sounds of marching feet, as ghostly battalions passed by on their way to immortality.

It was too late to find Phillip now; they had to get somewhere to stay, first. The only place she could think of was the hotel where Tommy had taken her for their honeymoon. It was dark when they reached the hotel, and by the light thrown out from the street lamps, it appeared the same as it had in 1914.

ALLISON’S WAR (PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS WILD OATS) – BLURB

In 1916, on the French battlefields, a dying soldier’s confession has the power to ruin the woman he loves.

Meanwhile, on the home front, Allison Waverley has to battle shame, loss and betrayal. Can she overcome the dark secrets in her past and find happiness, or will it always elude her?

http://amzn.com/B00JF4YA9E

 

 

 

 

MY HERO - MARGARET TANNER

AN ORDINARY MAN – MARGARET TANNER’S HERO

I wrote this as a tribute to my late father and his valiant comrades who bled and died for freedom. It inspired me to write my romantic novel, A Mortal Sin, which is out now from Books We Love.

My father always maintained he was ordinary.  Just the kind of man you would pass in the street and not really notice. Slightly stooped; bad posture interlaced with age most would say. Once blond hair was now grey, and his blue eyes were faded and a little watery.

Dad’s pastimes were following the football, growing tomatoes in the back garden, or amusing his grandsons. He considered his only claim to fame was that his tomatoes were the best in the neighbourhood.

In March 1940 Dad felt duty bound to answer his country’s call to war. When the Japanese poured into Malaya he was there as a member of the 2/29^th Battalion of the Australian 8^th Division. The letters he wrote home to his fiancée (later his wife), described the hordes of marauding mosquitoes, scorpions and other horrible, wriggly creatures, who inhabited the jungle.

He told of the pleasure in having real white sheets on the beds in one of their camps, and described the various native villages he had visited.

There was an ever continuing plea for news of home, cakes and other comforts to make life just a little more bearable in such an alien, inhospitable land. Yellowing letters, carefully kept by my mother, worn thin from having been read and re-read, unfolded a tale that the history books never told. Words of love more poignant than if they had been whispered in a romantic, fragrance filled garden, were beautiful in their simplicity as my father had left school after reaching the eighth grade.

Amongst his medals was a silver boomerang bearing the words “I go to return.” It was a good luck charm, and my father wore it throughout the war.  There was magic in the boomerang, the relation who gave it to him was convinced of it. Had not the original owner survived the carnage of the 1^st World War?  Did the good luck charm live up to its name the second time around?

Wounded in action and transferred to the 113^th Australian General Hospital in Singapore, this ordinary man from the country town of Wangaratta was blown out of bed, but survived the Japanese bombs which took the roof off his ward.  The British forces fell back across the causeway into Singapore. Day and night the fires burned.  The bombers came over spreading their destruction. Shattered shops were left to the mercy of looters, bodies rotted in the streets, and packs of marauding dogs gorged themselves with little resistance, as a pall of black smoke hung over Singapore. The bastion of the British Empire, the Gibraltar of the Far East teetered on the brink of surrender.  The giant British guns that might have saved them were embedded in concrete and pointing out to sea, useless to quell the invaders who came over land through the jungle.

All aircraft and ships had departed loaded with civilians, nurses and wounded, and after this desperate flotilla sailed off, those left behind could only await their fate.

In the last terrible days before Singapore capitulated in February 1942, trapping 80,000 Australian and British troops, a small junk braved the might of the Japanese air force and navy, and set off, crammed with wounded.  Only soldiers who were too incapacitated to fight yet could somehow mobilise themselves, were given the opportunity for this one last chance of escape.

With a piece of his back bone shot away, and weakened from attacks of malaria, Dad somehow made it to the wharf, with a rifle and the clothes he stood up in. As they wended their way out of the Singapore harbour, littered with the smouldering debris of dying ships, a Japanese bomber dived low over them, but the pilot obviously had more important targets on his mind than a small overcrowded boat.

They made it to safety, and were eventually transferred to a hospital ship. 

There were no scenes of mad revelry and jubilation when this ship arrived back in Australia.  This son of Wangaratta returned home, unhailed, except for those who loved him most. After his marriage, Dad shifted to the life of Melbourne suburbia and raised three children.

When he died the bugle played the last post, his coffin was draped with the Australian flag.  Old soldiers dropped red poppies into the open grave as a tribute to a fallen comrade.

There were some who wondered what all the fuss was about. After all, wasn’t he just an ordinary man?

My novel, A Mortal Sin, although fictional is well researched, and also has relied on information from my father’s letters and information given to me by my mother and her sisters, and the few things I remember Dad telling us when we were children. 

A MORTAL SIN

Paul Ashfield, an aristocratic Englishman, travels to Australia in search of the birth mother he thinks deserted him.  He meets and falls in love with Daphne Clarke, but after staying with her parents, Paul finds a diary and erroneously believes that he and Daphne share the same mother.  He beats a hasty retreat, believing he has slept with his sister.

Their paths eventually cross again in Singapore where Daphne is a nurse and Paul is in the army. They get married as Singapore teeters on the brink of invasion.  Wrenched apart by the war, each believes the other has died in the bombing. When they meet again, it is in church and, Paul is about to enter into an arranged marriage.

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