Jean Debney

I have been writing books for over twelve years; all are available via Amazon.com and all other Amazon sites. I publish through KDP, as it provides an excellent platform to an author who likes to write quickly and get their work into the public domain, while maintaining full-editorial control.

My books through Brewin Books Ltd. (and available on Amazon) are; 'The Dangerfields; Munitions and Memories' - stories from some lovely ladies, their wartime experiences making arms, ammunition and planes. The novel to that is 'If Only'. 'Breaking The Chains', examines the plight of the women who made the chains in Cradley Heath over a hundred years ago. The novel to that book is 'Maggie and Molly'. My final book published through Brewin Books Ltd, is 'Jewels of Our City', uncovering the working life and history in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter.

My departure into Amazon KDP has been an exciting journey. I relaunched my first self-published book 'Far Away Hills' set in the Canadian wilderness in the 1920's, then followed by the sequel 'Over The Water', set in The Highlands of Scotland. There will be third, 'Down The Road' coming in 2021.

Following these I wrote a history book entitled ‘Building the Dream’. It is about the self-build movement that sprang up in 1949 in war-torn Britain; in Birmingham, 70,000 persons were homeless, the country was broke, there were very few materials with which to build anything, and unless you could prove absolute need you would not be able to join the list for social housing. It reflects on those who chose the only route that they had available to them - to build their own houses in collectives; a great deal can be learnt today for the present housing crisis that affects the UK.

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In 2018, I finished my favourite novel so far, ‘Diamonds in the Dust’, the long-awaited novel to follow my history book ‘Jewels of Our City’. This book is set in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter in the 1880’s. It paints the picture of back-to-back living in the courts, working in the Pen Factories, among the few jewellery-making artisans that were able to scratch a living at that time. There are themes of the Irish famine, the social liberation of the city, and the rising political star in the ascendance - Joseph Chamberlain - who led the plan for the Birmingham’s incorporation as a city by achieving a charter.

My life crumbled a year and half ago, with the sudden and very unexpected death of my husband. I have written my way out of grief and I would advise anybody struggling with a deep and profound loss to consider writing. For me, his humour, his witty repartee, and rather obtuse jokes, were what became my focus. I literally laughed myself through my grieving remembering the splendid and 'larger-than-life person' he was. That book is now released 'Sounds like A Plan'

I am now taking a departure and writing an action thriller, set in a few exotic locations in the world. That as yet, is untitled and will be released for this Christmas 2020.

I hope you all enjoy reading my books, as much as I enjoy writing them. I thank you all for your words of support; I love reading them. As always I can be contacted on jldebney@yahoo.co.uk