Caroline grew up at the English seaside town of Brighton and came to Australia for a year—in 1999—to continue her career as a writer and producer. She has worked on a documentary about Princess Diana lookalikes, a series about journeys to the ends of the earth, as well as a feature film about finding the end of the rainbow. Caroline has a MA in Film & Television and a MA in Creative Writing and has studied the craft of novel writing at the Faber Academy in Sydney and with Curtis Brown Creative in London.Her latest novel is Finding Eadie, a compelling story of love and mystery during wartime published earlier this year.
Today, Caroline is on the blog to answer a few of our questions about her new book. Read on …
Caroline Beecham
Tell us about your book, Finding Eadie!
CB: Finding Eadie is a mystery about a woman’s search for her stolen child. It’s inspired by real events, and set in the publishing world of London and New York during the Second World War. It’s the story of a young woman, Alice Cotton, who shows extraordinary resilience as she manages to cleverly combine her search for her missing child with the challenge of creating much needed books during wartime.
The novel starts when her baby, Eadie, goes missing and Alice’s search takes her into the dark and frightening world of baby farming in the 1940s. Baby farmers were people, often couples, who took infants and children for a fee under the pretext of looking after them but in most cases did the opposite. During my research I discovered that a law that was supposed to be passed to protect children and stop unlawful adoptions was shelved because of the war—the exact time it was needed more than ever. As you can imagine there are shades of dark and light in the book and much of the light comes from the surprising love story, and the really testing world of book publishing during that period.
What was your main inspiration for this novel?
CB: I discovered a long-held family secret from a few generations ago; that a relative’s baby was sold to a childless couple in a nearby town. At first I found it quite shocking until I looked into the circumstances and found out how common it was for unmarried mothers who had to find a way of taking care of their illegitimate children, often through illegal adoptions and turning to baby farmers. Social activists like Clara Andrew who fought to get the Adoption of Children Act passed, and the journalist Olive Melville Brown who followed the story and kept it in the public eye, were pioneering women who inspired my characters in the novel. Diana Athill was another one; she had a distinguished career as an editor and worked in the industry throughout the war.
What kind of historical research did you undertake to write Finding Eadie? Did you learn anything surprising?
CB: I learnt there was a book vending machine in 1936 called a ‘Penguincubator’, that the general public collected and donated acorns throughout the war to feed the animals at London Zoo, and that there was an area in New York called ‘Book Row’ that had seven blocks of books.
I discovered that when the heart of the publishing industry was bombed in 1940 and smaller publishing houses had to relocate, the larger publishers offered them peppercorn rent, and I learnt how the US and UK industry responded to the demand for more books with ever-shrinking resources.
It really was a fascinating book to research and write; it took me from the Foundling Museum and Bloomsbury squares, to the seafront and laneways of Brighton. I went from Primrose Hill streets to the library of the Zoological Society, and visited the St Bride Foundation in Fleet Street to see how old printing presses worked. I also visited The Gateway Club in Chelsea, which was the hub for LGBTIQ+ people to socialise during the 1930s and 1940s. Most research was absorbing, but a number of articles on baby farming were so disturbing that there were times I had to stop reading. As well as the invaluable resources of museums and archives, I’m also extremely grateful to the medical, police and publishing professionals who gave me specific advice.
One of the major themes of this book is that books have the power to change lives. Can you talk a little bit about why you believe that?
CB: Reading provides escapism, entertainment and ideas, and for those on the home front who spent hours waiting in shelters and at home during the blackout with not much else to do, it was invaluable. But can you imagine being a soldier with time spent waiting before facing your enemy and the unknown? The distraction of reading for them would have been immeasurable, as is the case for some of the characters in the novel. The power of books is as strong a unifying belief for Alice, Theo and Ursula, as it is for the Council for Books in Wartime and the community book group based in Penny’s Café. There are also specific books that are important to our characters and of course the book that Theo and Alice are publishing, Women and Children First. I think we can all probably identify books that were important or influential growing up; perhaps characters or a story that resonated at a particular time, and that we’ve never forgotten. It’s not hard to imagine the power of books in wartime; the start of 2020 has shown how many of us have turned to reading in a similar way.
When you’re starting a new novel, do you come up with a plot or with the characters first?
CB: It’s very much hand in hand; I’m inspired by a person or event that I haven’t heard about before and that leads to initial research. The plot and characters tend to grow from there; tiny silken threads that grow into a strong story-web. Other discoveries during research usually show where the weaknesses are but I’m a strong believer that stories find you. This one did in the same way that Maggie’s Kitchen and Eleanor’s Secret did but then if you’re lucky enough to be dipping in and out of archives, then it may be easier to find them, or just a question of time.
What is the last book you read and loved?
CB: The Binding, Beneath A Scarlet Sky, and Where The Crawdads Sing were recent highlights but I really enjoyed The Huntress by Kate Quinn for the parallel storyline and learning about the Russian female bomber pilots, the Night Witches. I particularly liked Nina; she was very unconventional in the 1940s and comes alive as an original, gutsy female character.
Which books do you have on your TBR pile right now?
CB: There are so many but the pile I’m looking forward to tackling first includes The Last Train To London by Meg Waite Clayton, See What You Made Me Do, the Stella prize winner by Jess Hill, and lots of research books for my new projects!
If you were planning a literary dinner party, which three authors (dead or alive) would you invite?
CB: William Boyd, because he’s a master storyteller who I constantly learn from by reading his novels, and I think he would be good company. Charles Dickens, because there would so much to talk about and so many questions to ask. And finally, the author, food writer and critic Ruth Reichl, because she has such great stories and culinary contacts, and would probably have some great ideas on how to throw the best dinner party!
What do you hope readers will discover in Finding Eadie?
CB: I hope they’ll enjoy getting to know the characters as well as finding meaning in the story; whether it’s the importance of friendships, realising that most families have secrets, or seeing how far others will go to protect the ones they love.
And finally, what’s up next for you?
CB: I have two books that I’m working on; a dual storyline in the same vein as Eleanor’s Secret where the contemporary storyline helps to solve a wartime mystery, based in Europe and Australia. And another novel set in Europe and the US that begins during the Second World War, which I’m very excited about as it involves an amazing woman and organisation that created an incredible legacy. I’m looking forward to trying to understand what she did and why; and to all the ‘what ifs’ that historical fiction entails, and filling in the gaps.
Thanks Caroline!
—Finding Eadie by Caroline Beecham (Allen & Unwin) is out now.
Finding Eadie
London 1943: War and dwindling resources are taking their toll on the staff of Partridge Press. The pressure is on to create new books to distract readers from the grim realities of the war, but Partridge's rising star, Alice Cotton, leaves abruptly and cannot be found.
Alice's secret absence is to birth her child, and although her baby's father remains unnamed, Alice's mother promises to help her raise her tiny granddaughter, Eadie. Instead, she takes a shocking action. Theo Bloom is employed by the American office of Partridge. When he is tasked with...
How one incredible woman inspired Caroline Beecham’s new novel 
Caroline Beecham: I hope readers will appreciate this new perspective on history.
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