In the wake of the dismal rhetoric surrounding the Kate Clanchy affair, which dragged on for months, I noticed that mainstream media in the UK were wilfully misunderstanding sensitivity readings, or, as I prefer to call them, expert reads. The reality is so different from their endless whinging and moaning about freedom of speech and censorship and “removing offensive material from the text”, that I had to say something.
With Lucia’s War, the choice was obvious from the beginning – all the research in the world could not supplant inside knowledge of the culture and milieu Lucia grew up in. Many thanks to Vanessa at writing.ie for allowing me to ventilate my thoughts.
Susan Lanigan - WWI Historical Fiction 