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Universal Link
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“I’m sorry, Mrs. Miller, but unfortunately, you won’t be able to take your children today.” His tone was perfunctory, as if he was informing her that her favourite brand of toothpaste was out of stock. “Once they’re in the system, they have to be assessed fully. This can take several days or longer based on the complexity of the case. You will be interviewed―”
“Wait a minute,” she said, leaning forward so that her forehead was pressed against the barrier. This couldn’t be happening. “My grandmother was told we don’t have permission to live at her place, but that’s not true. I have it right here on my iD. I can show you.” She lifted her wrist.
“That won’t be necessary. Even if it is a mistake, we need to follow protocol. If you’ll just be patient, you should see them again soon.”
“We don’t need to follow protocol because we’ve done nothing wrong.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m not leaving without my children. Either get them now or get a manager out here.”
He sighed dramatically. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. The
best thing you can do is go home and wait until we notify you. I’m sorry you
were called in unnecessarily. We take child protection very seriously, and
there’s no special treatment for anyone, not even you.”
Purchase this book from Amazon:
Janine Frances
lives in the Hunter Valley, Australia with her partner David and dog Banjo. She
loves reading thrillers and decided to have a go at writing her own.
Janine chose to
write a speculative thriller because it’s an exciting genre that asks important
questions about the future.
You can find her
on:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Omniscience-dystopian-thriller-Janine-Frances-ebook/dp/B09S32YXMG/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22233273.Janine_Frances
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JanineFrances5
The inspiring story of a bomber pilot, his crew and the woman he loved based on historical accounts…
Riding the icy, moonlit sky—
They took the war to Hitler.
Their chances of survival were less than fifty percent.
Their average age was 21.
This is the story of just one Lancaster skipper, his crew,
and the woman he loved.
It is intended as a tribute to them all.
Flying Officer Kit Moran has earned his pilot’s wings, but the greatest challenges still lie ahead: crewing up and returning to operations. Things aren’t made easier by the fact that while still a flight engineer, he was posted LMF (Lacking in Moral Fibre) for refusing to fly after a raid on Berlin that killed his best friend and skipper. Nor does it help that he is in love with his dead friend’s fiancĂ©, who is not yet ready to become romantically involved again.
“[The hero’s] struggles, his life, and the romance he is continuously hoping and striving to have with the woman he loves hits you directly in the soul, but the addition of adventure and excitement makes you want to read cover-to-cover without ever having to put the book down…. The intriguing dialogue, the settings, the clear descriptions of such harsh situations – this author has hit on all cylinders once again, and even provides the most exhilarating history lesson I, personally, have ever had the pleasure of reading." 5-Stars!” Feathered Quill
“[Moral Fibre] takes the reader into the English psyche of [WWII], tapping the depths of human emotions, holding them up to the light, and revealing their concomitant beauty and ugliness in times of fear and crises. … Meticulously researched and skillfully written, Schrader’s Moral Fibre steps off the pages and comes to life. Her nuanced characters and authentic dialogue also provide a glimpse of Britain’s stratified class-conscious culture during the WWII era.
…. A riveting read and highly recommended!” – Chanticleer Reviews 5-Stars
“Helena P. Schrader … is a true master at delving into complex psychological dilemmas and emerging with a tantalizing, completely comprehensible tale of human frailty and strengths that blend into a unique experience for her readers. Moral Fibre is brilliantly crafted in its delicate treatment of an evolving relationship … and the clashes with staid tradition and prejudices. How they each evolve is the meat of Schrader’s magic. The relationship and romance scenarios are poignant and human, contrasted with the battle scenes and flying sequences which are accurate and detailed.” – Tom Gauthier for Readers Favorites
Book Information
Release Date: May 16, 2022
Publisher: Cross Seas Press
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1735313924; 436 pages; $19.95; E-Book, $9.49
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3otTh3c
Distributor: https://itascabooks.com/products/moral-fibre-a-bomber-pilots-story
“Yes, sir.”
Grace nodded, drew a deep breath and then parted his elegant hands in a gesture of vague helplessness. “We have a bit of a problem. You see, I can’t find the slightest evidence of mental illness. In fact, I would venture to say that you are one of the sanest young men I’ve talked to in a long time.”
“Well, sir, you are working at a mental institution, so you may not be seeing a representative sample of the population,” Moran pointed out.
Dr Grace laughed shortly but sobered rapidly. “The point, I’m afraid, is that in the absence of a clear mental disorder, you cannot be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.”
“That’s just as well,” Moran nodding his understanding. “I’d probably go mad there.”
Dr Grace leaned back in his chair with an amused smile playing tentatively upon his features. “I have to admit I’m somewhat surprised — but glad — to see you can face the future with this degree of levity.”
“I think it’s called ‘gallows humour’, sir.”
“Hm.” Dr Grace thought a moment and then admitted, “Moran, I can’t make a recommendation about your case unless you are more candid with me about why you refused to fly on November 23. I know you don’t want to talk about it, but unfortunately I must insist on you telling me what happened.”
Moran drew a deep breath and sat up straighter. He’d come to respect and trust Dr Grace and decided that, despite his earlier reticence, it wasn’t that hard to explain after all. “There’s not that much to it.” He ignored Dr Grace’s suddenly raised eyebrows. “On an operational sortie to Berlin on November 22, the bomb aimer was injured by flak and three other crew members, including the pilot, were severely wounded in a night fighter attack. We made an emergency landing at Hawkinge, pancaking at roughly 2:30 am on the morning of November 23. While still on the tarmac, I was informed that the skipper — my best friend — Flight Lieutenant Selkirk was dead. Apparently, he had died immediately after landing. By flying the Lancaster back to England and making a perfect landing he had saved the lives of the rest of us on board.
“The three of us who were not injured were told to take trains back to our operational station at RAF Elsham Wolds in Lincolnshire. We spent the rest of the night and most of the next morning in railway stations, sleeping as best we could on platform benches in our flying gear, or standing up in overcrowded trains. Apparently, no one in this country thinks bombing Berlin is important enough to give up their seats to tired aircrew returning from an op there!”
Dr Grace grimaced and shook his head in sympathy.
Moran continued bleakly, “We reached Elsham Wolds roughly twelve hours after we’d landed. I had only been in bed about two hours, when I was told I was slated to fly as engineer with a sprog crew that same evening. I was not amused, but I didn’t balk until they opened the curtains at the briefing and it was yet another run to Berlin.”
Dr Grace did not have to urge him to explain himself. Moran suddenly wanted someone to understand. “It was as if bloody Butcher Harris was punishing us for not hitting the target in a tight pattern the night before — as if we were to blame for the 100 mph winds, for Met getting the forecast wrong, for being scattered and ravaged by the Luftwaffe’s wild boars! We’re not people to Harris — just tools to prove that bombing alone can force Germany into surrender.
“He could have given us a night off to recover. Or he could have sent us against a different target — something closer and less hotly defended like Bielefeld or Muenster or Brest. Sending us back to Berlin the very next night was too bloody much to ask!”
Dr Grace didn’t answer for several minutes, during which time Kit started to become uncomfortable. All the rumours about what happened to men like him who “lacked moral fibre” crowded his brain — court martial, demotion to aircraftman, assignment to humiliating duties such as cleaning latrines or working in the morgue, or a dishonorable discharge and industrial conscription to the coal mines or a munitions factory. Whatever they did to him, the blot on his record would be forever.
Finally, Dr Grace drew a deep breath. “It is probably immaterial that I agree with you. I make no pretence of understanding the strategy behind our bombing campaign. As for asking you to fly the very next night, my understanding is that many squadron and station commanders feel that airmen who have undergone a traumatic experience need to be sent out again as soon as possible in order to prevent the trauma from taking root. It’s the same principle by which a rider who is thrown from a horse is told to get back on immediately. It’s well known that if they don’t, the fear of riding can become overpowering. Likewise, many pilots who have crashed need to overcome a fear of flying again. That fear increases the longer a man stays on the ground. In short, there would appear to be some justification for the actions of your CO. Would you agree with that?”
Moran nodded reluctantly. He wasn’t entirely sure this made sense. If you went out again immediately and had another terrible sortie, didn’t that just reinforce the trauma? Increase the fear?
Dr Grace was speaking again. “Now, let me ask you this — a purely hypothetical question, you understand. Could you imagine any circumstances under which you would be willing to fly operations again?”
“Of course. With a skipper I know and trust, I’d be happy to fly tomorrow.”
Dr Grace nodded but remarked with a mildly reproving smile. “That may just be a touch over-zealous, Pilot Officer Moran.”
“You did say the question was hypothetical,” Moran reminded him with the hint of a smile.
Dr Grace smiled back in acknowledgement, but then turned serious again. He leaned forward, his elbows on the desk and his hands clasped. “RAF Psychiatrists such as myself have been looking at the evidence, and we have come to the conclusion that the tours of duty are too long and the breaks between tours too short. The men who volunteer for aircrew are, with very few exceptions, men of superior dedication and character. Nevertheless, as a colleague of mine put it, courage is like money in the bank. If you use it up more rapidly than you can replenish it, you will eventually have nothing left.”
That sounded to Moran as if the wing commander was implying there was nothing fundamentally wrong with him. Indeed, he seemed to suggest that Moran had nothing whatever to be ashamed of. The psychiatrist appeared to be saying that what had happened was perfectly normal and almost inevitable. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying, sir,” Moran admitted.
“Nothing very complicated, Pilot Officer Moran. I’m simply positing that on the afternoon of November 23, 1943 your personal reserves of courage had been wiped out by a severe blow — the loss of your close friend and skipper on an operational sortie the previous night. You needed time to recover your confidence, your equilibrium, and indeed your physical health. You also needed time to grieve. You were a wreck when you arrived here — in case you didn’t notice.”
“Are you saying, sir, that you don’t think I’m lacking in moral fibre?”
“That is a ridiculous term with no medical basis whatsoever,” the psychiatrist retorted with an irritated gesture. “The entire notion of LMF was nothing but an administrative solution to an unexpected problem: the refusal of some volunteers to continue volunteering. Such men had, temporarily at least, lost the confidence of their commanding officers and needed to be removed from active duty, yet they could hardly be charged with desertion or insubordination. Volunteering is, after all, voluntary.”
“That doesn’t entirely answer my question, sir. I understand that for you the term LMF isn’t scientific or medical or however-you-want-to-word it, but it does describe aircrew who have failed to do their job, doesn’t it?”
“Failed? Do you feel you have failed, and if so, in what way?”
Bombarded by emotions and confused by his own thoughts, Moran couldn’t answer.
Dr Grace gently resumed talking. “Isn’t it true that the only way in which you have failed is in not living up to your own expectations? Is it not your high standards — as a member of an elite military force — that trap you into thinking that you have failed?” Grace paused and then continued, “Objectively, you have already done a great deal more to win this war than ninety-nine percent of the British population. Many would say you have indeed ‘done your bit.’”
“What ‘many’ say isn’t really the issue, is it?” Moran shot back. “The question is what does the RAF say? What do you say? It seems to me that my future is very much in your hands, Wing Commander.” Moran realized he was tired of being in limbo. Tired of waiting for the axe to fall. He wanted to know what they were going to do to him.
In addition, Helena has published eighteen historical novels and won numerous literary awards. Her novel on the Battle of Britain, “Where Eagles Never Flew,” won the Hemingway Award for 20th Century Wartime Fiction and a Maincrest Media Award for Historical Fiction. RAF Battle of Britain ace Wing Commander Bob Doe called it “the best book” he had ever seen about the battle. “Traitors for the Sake of Humanity” is a finalist for the Foreword INDIES awards. “Grounded Eagles” and “Moral Fibre” have both garnered excellent reviews from acclaimed review sites such as Kirkus, Blue Ink, Foreword Clarion, Feathered Quill, and Chantileer Books.
Visit her website at http://helenapschrader.com or connect with her on Facebook. You can also visit her blogs:
Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.
Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.
Torri Adamson put up with her husband's philandering ways for years, but a new indiscretion makes her take their two children and return to her family.
As the years pass, Torri rebuilds her life, but when Mike abducts her children, she is afraid this tragedy might be too much to handle.
Based on a true story, Zabel weaves an emotional story of one woman pushed to her limits. From the first page, the reader is drawn into Torri's family drama. A tightly-written tale that pulls at the heartstrings, the reader will turn page after page, following Torri as she rebuilds her life, just to have an unspeakable tragedy rip joy away from her. Readers will admire Torri's strength and appreciate the closeness of her family as they move along.
Though Torri's story is fictional, it is based on a true story; a story that unfolds too often. As a mother, this story truly hit home.
Riveting, intense, and masterfully told, Stolen is a must read.
Welcome back to Morning Star where community, romance, and faith abound.
In Love Blooms in Morning Star by Charlotte Hubbard, Jo Fussner has fallen in love with Michael Wengerd. Plans seem to be humming along until the elders forbid any maidel from working after she marries. Will Jo need to choose between her store and the man she loves?
The story of Jo Fussner is the focus of the fourth installment of The Maidels of Morning Star series. Having found love with Michael Wengerd, Jo is looking forward to the future, but she knows it won't be easy to get her mother Drusilla's blessing. Her mamm has been warning her of how trapped she will feel once her husband is the head of the house. Jo can't understand why her mother is so against marriage or why Drusilla is brushing off the advances of Nelson Wengerd.
Just when she thinks all will work out, the elders decide maidels can't work after they marry. Jo has poured her heart into the Marketplace. She can't imagine not having a hand in its future. Words spoken in haste put everything she holds dear into jeopardy.
Love Blooms in Morning Star is another fabulous story in The Maidels of Morning Star series. Just like other books in the series, the main story focuses on one or two characters, but that feeling of community is front and center.
Fans of Hubbard's work will enjoy their return to Morning Star. Jo is the primary focus of this novel, but unfolding in the background is Drusilla's story. Many familiar characters appear in this novel. Though this continues the series, you could easily read Love Blooms in Morning Star as a stand alone. I just feel there is so much value in reading from beginning and getting to know all these characters from the start.
Booklist has said that Hubbard writes of "brave new beginnings from a refreshingly feminist perspective." I agree with that assessment, and her thorough research and realistic portrayal of Amish life continues to gain her new fans. If ever there was a faith-based series ready for the small screen, it is this one.
Welcome to It's Monday! What Are You Reading? and Mailbox Monday.