The ‘launch’ of A Place of Dreams took place at a SHU Creative Writing master class in early December 2025. It felt very apt -- and heartwarming, even -- to have the first outing of the book there, because that is where it all began, way back in 2011, when I signed up for the Life Writing module that was part of the old MA Writing. Talking about the actual *published* book with people who taught me on the MA, or who marked early versions of my manuscript, or who studied with me, as well as with friends and colleagues who have read the book in various stages of production, or listened to me agonising over it, for many years, and my daughters, who’ve lived with it longer than they knew Norah, their great-great aunt – was fabulous. I loved it. 

Since then, I’ve talked about the book in various settings, including at my own (delayed) professorial lecture (see Bryony Mutton’s lovely write-up here) and at the Women’s History Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research. I’m looking forward to a talk at Walkley Library in Sheffield on 18th April, and am planning to make contact with various WIs and U3As.

Sometimes, depending on the interests of the audience, my focus is Norah’s wartime experience, the content of her diaries and family history. At others, it is a bit more heavy-duty academic, addressing the question of why I felt so stifled by the conventions of academic history, and why, to write a genuine ‘history from below’, these need to change. I am writing a version of this for Journal of British Studies.

This blog post is a written-up version of my talk at the Creative Writing masterclass, which asks why it took me so long to write the book, and explores the very long gestation period in terms of my not knowing what kind of book it should or could be.