Greenwich Girl paperback is now available to pre-order!
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It's almost here!
I'm writing this evening with the exciting news that Greenwich Girl, Sheridan's mother's memoirs, are about to be published. The date I have chosen is 26th March 2023, which would have been her 100th birthday. It has been a mammoth job to compile this book, and I'm thrilled to have completed it just in time to publish on this special date. (Don't look too hard at the cover - there are just a few little tweaks to make!)
I have especially loved the research involved in this project, which has included masses of fact-checking, and wherever possible, tracing descendants of Margaret's friends and acquaintances.
How to buy the book
The paperback book is available to pre-order today at the Great British Bookshop (our preferred online retailer) at £19.99, and it will be available at other outlets in due course, including a range of trade suppliers, so I'm hoping a few Greenwich bookshops will pick it up. It will also be available on Kindle at £7.99 on the same date. Kindle pre-orders are now open!
I really hope you enjoy it!
What's Greenwich Girl about?
Margaret Green was born in 1923 in Commerell Street, Greenwich. She began her working life as a milliner in Mayfair, a bought ledger clerk at John Lewis in Oxford Street, and a wages clerk at Merryweather's, the fire engine manufacturers in Greenwich.
During the war, she volunteered as an air raid warden on the bomb-scarred streets of Greenwich, and her family provided a ‘home from home’ for three young men serving in the Royal New Zealand Air Force: John Spencer Horan, Leslie Plimmer Russell, and Grant Alan Russell.
Margaret survived danger and loss and went on to train as a nurse at the Miller General and the Royal Masonic Hospital. After witnessing Churchill's victory speech in Whitehall on VE Day, she was inspired to join the war effort in the Far East. She is believed to be the youngest VAD to serve in India.
Her letters trace her courtship with John Green, an ambitious young engineering apprentice from Charlton, and their early married life in Grotton and Glasgow. John's career took Margaret back to India, this time with two young children.
The family later settled in Brighton and Hove, where as Managing Director of Rayner, John fulfilled his dream of building Britain's first dedicated intraocular lens factory.
Retirement brought both joys and challenges, including John's devastating decline with Alzheimer's, and Margaret’s battle for recognition for her husband.
Mike wrote:
This compelling life story has been compiled and edited by Margaret’s youngest daughter, Sheridan Parsons, using memoirs, notes, diaries, and letters, to create a captivating narrative of an extraordinary life lived through extraordinary times.
