Top international best selling author Dinah Jefferies is back with a stunning World War II epic, the first book in a new series that went straight to the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Daughters of War is a tale of three sisters, secrets, and bravery in the darkness of war-torn France.

Hi there, I’m your host, Jenny Wheeler and in Binge Reading today Dinah talks about growing up in Malaysia, the book that helped her break through as an international author and why she enjoys books that are rooted in community stories.

We’ve got three eBook copies of Daughters of War to give away to three lucky readers. You can enter the draw on the website, www.thejoysofbingereading.com or on our Binge Reading Facebook page.

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Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Why the theme of separation resonates in Dinah's storiesHer path from Asian set books to World War IIThe breakthrough book that made her an international bestsellerThe origins of The Tuscan ContessaThe writers she's reading right nowWhat she'd do differently second time around

Where to find Dinah Jefferies: 

Website: https://www.dinahjefferies.com/

Facebook: @dinahjefferiesbooks

Twitter: @dinahjefferies

Pinterest: @DinahJefferies

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/dinah-jefferies

What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

But now here’s Dinah.

Jenny Wheeler: Hello there, Dinah and welcome to the show. It’s good to have you with us.

Dinah Jefferies: Thank you for having me.

Introducing international bestselling author Dinah Jefferies

Dinah Jefferies - international best selling author.

Jenny Wheeler: You are an international bestselling author of historical fiction. Normally you've tackled Asian settings but the last two books, Daughters of War – which is the one we're talking about today – and the one before that, The Tuscan Contessa, are both set in Europe in the Second World War. Why did you make that change?

Dinah Jefferies: I had done six books set in the East. I was born in Malaysia and lived there as a child, so it was familiar to me although they were all different countries – Burma or rather Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, those kinds of countries. But there came a point when I needed something new. I needed a new challenge.

I didn't know what that new challenge was, but the most obvious thing to begin with was a change of location. That’s really all it was, and Tuscany was the first choice because I was staying there on a family holiday. I hadn't thought of it as a World War II book, or even a book set in Tuscany, but I fell headfirst down some steps, twisted my foot, and had to spend most of the holiday with my foot up covered in ice.

I read a lot of books about what had happened in Northern Tuscany in the mountains during the Second World War, and it was so intriguing I thought, that's what I'm going to do. It’s gone from there.

Setting the scene for the new World War II series

I thought, after Tuscany, if I do another World War II book, where would I like to set that? That is when I hit on the idea of a rural village in the Dordogne, and that’s all the change was about. And as well as wanting to do a different kind of book or a book set in a different location, I'd had enough of all the long-haul flights, because I always go to the places I set my books and Europe is a lot easier from here.

Jenny Wheeler: That’s right. To digress for a moment,