Review
"This is a moving story played out by every serving soldier when war dislocates families and taxes friendships. The extraordinary stresses battering the relationship between Corporal George Taylor and his fiancée Nettie are played out against the background of the Siege of Malta. Difficult communications allow anxiety, jealousy and suspicion to encroach on the rational, so that living for the moment becomes the norm.
This is the first narrative I have come across from a medic in 30 Company RAMC serving in Malta during the Second World War. Any soldier reading George's tale, who has ever served in conflict, will have no problems relating his experience to those challenges faced by George and Nettie."
Colonel (retired)WalterBonnici, RAMC, creator and administrator of the RAMC Malta website maltaramc.com' "This is a love story. True, the diary kept secretly by George Taylorbetween 1940 and 1943, when he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps on theisland of Malta, reports on the siege when the island faced daily raids andattacks from Axis forces. But the real theme of the diary is his anxiety forthe survival of his relationship with Nettie.
The diarywas kept secret becauseit had to be. Taylor knew he would be in trouble if it were found. There is nocensor in the diary."
Scottish Association of the Teachers of History
"This is a most unusual military history book. There are few military non-combatantaccounts of life in the Second World War, fewer still from an Other Rank. Basedon words and feelings recorded at the time, it is probably unique.
It is aninteresting an informative account of the Siege of Malta, with its devastationof the islanders' jobs, properties, health and social communities, and of thesacrifices made by sailors and airmen to maintain the island and drive off theaggressors.
Obviously ahigh-minded young man, his eager adoption of the Masons' codes and customs isto his credit and must make very interesting reading for those who are of theBrotherhood."
Don Marshall, Military History Enthusiast
From the Author
I co-wrote this book with a dead man, someone I loved very much, who was no longer there for me to ask him what parts of his diary meant as I lived WW2 through his eyes, reading the precious diary that could have led him to be court-martialled, and that he kept all his life but didn't dare show to anyone.
When I was given George's diary, it was a legacy that felt like a mission. I had to get George's story out into the world, and the detective work began. I read everything I could find about Malta in WW2. I contacted George's brother to get family background and sparked off another book because Dave said 'Don't you want to hear my war story too'? And so the book '4. 5 years by David Taylor' was written alongside 'Faithful through hard times'. Sometimes I felt like Churchill receiving news from the front, as I had Dave mailing me his prisoner-of-war stories, at the same time as I read of the bombing in Malta.Another secret uncovered at George's death was his membership of the Freemasons. I was horrified. Then I became objective, researched the Freemasons, found out how they supported widows and children, more like modern insurance or unions than like dodgy secret societies. I also found out how much Hitler hated the Freemasons, seeing them as a threat. But it was - and is - a secret society, so I figured out the rituals from the books I'd inherited, and the programmes, with dates and names, of meetings in Malta. George would have been horrified at my exposure of these secrets but they are so much part of his story, they had to be included.The third element of this book is in the chapter headings, quotations from 'Ends and Means' by Aldous Huxley. George told me that it was the work of philosophy, so it seemed right to me to put that book in his pocket and for the quotations to counterpoint the war story, offering an ironic commentary.I cried, a lot, when I was writing this book and I'd like to think George would be pleased with it. His brother Dave said I'd done a good job - I think that's the best review I could possibly have.Jean Gill's publications
Novels
The Troubadours Quartet
Book 4 Song Hereafter (The 13th Sign) 2017
Book 3 Plaint for Provence (The 13th Sign) 2015
Book 2 Bladesong (The 13th Sign) 2015
Book 1 Song at Dawn (The 13th Sign ) 2015
Someone to Look Up To: a dog's search for love and understanding (The 13th Sign) 2016
Love Heals
Book 2 More Than One Kind (The 13th Sign) 2016
Book 1 No Bed of Roses (The 13th Sign) 2016
Looking for Normal (teen fiction/fact)
Book 1 Left Out (The 13th Sign) 2017
Book 2 Fortune Kookie (The 13th Sign) 2017
Non-fiction/Memoir/Travel
How Blue is my Valley (The 13th Sign 2016
A Small Cheese in Provence (The 13th Sign) 2016
Faithful through Hard Times (The 13th Sign 2018
4.5 Years - war memoir by David Taylor (The 13th Sign) 2017
Short Stories and Poetry
One Sixth of a Gill (The 13th Sign) 2014
From Bed-time On (National Poetry Foundation) 1996
With Double Blade (National Poetry Foundation) 1988
Translation (from French)
The Last Love of Edith Piaf - Christie Laume (Archipel) 2014
A Pup in Your Life - Michel Hasbrouck 2008
Gentle Dog Training - Michel Hasbrouck (Souvenir Press) 2008
About the Author
Jean Gill is a writer and photographer living in the south of France with a very big white dog, a Nikon D700 and a man. Her books range from prize-winning poetry and novels to a cookbook for goat cheese.
