THE LAST TELEGRAM

My Real Life Inspirations

I was brought up in the world of silk with my father, brother and now my nephew successively managing the company which is still weaving today after 300 years in the same family.

Before the Second World War my father’s family sponsored five Jewish ‘Kindertransport’ boys who were later interned (see pic). One of them returned to fight with the Allied forces and came back to marry his sweetheart, ending up as a senior manager in the company and lifelong friend of the family.  

There was a problem with silk supplies in the early part of the war, and I was fortunate enough to interview the son of the yarn merchant who was actually sent to the Middle East to find new sources. My uncle John spent five years in a German prisoner of war camp, and I talked to him about his experiences and learned much from his letters, which had been carefully saved by my grandparents.

So although Lily and her problems with the silk are entirely fictional, as are all my characters and what happens to them, my inspiration was rooted in real people and real events.