Dear Reader…
When you take Moral Fibre into your hands, please understand that it is not the product of a calculating author employing successful creative writing techniques and following a successful formula. This book is a young man’s story. All I did was write it down in a fashion that enabled it to be published and so shared with a wider audience.
I do not know why Kit chose me to write his story. After all, I don’t have a huge following, and although I’ve won more than a score of literary accolades over the last decade, there are very many authors who sell more books than I do. Maybe when Kit begged them for their time the more famous and successful authors didn’t listen to him? Or maybe it was because of his African roots?
Kit knew that I shared his love of Africa — the hot, dry savannahs, the untamed mountains, the silhouette of the acacia trees against the vivid colors of the sunset, the irresistible rhythm of the music, and the beat of the drum demanding that you dance. He knew, too, that I had witnessed the insidious corrosion caused by corruption, the explosive power of ethnic hatred, and the eternal injustice of racism spawned by white supremacism. Kit trusted me to understand that he, although white and upper class on the surface, was not cut off from that quarter of him that was black.
I think it is also significant that the first thing Kit told me about himself was that he had been thrown off his squadron in November 1943 for refusing to fly. He’d been labelled “LMF” — Lacking in Moral Fibre, i.e. a coward. Clearly, he wanted to be sure I would not shy away from telling the story of a man contemporaries had called “yellow.”
As a result, the first stage of our relationship was spent in explaining his fateful decision not to fly on the seventh operation of his second tour, despite the fact that he was a seasoned flight engineer with a tour of operations behind him and the holder of a decoration for bravery. Together, we wrote about the events and emotions that had led him to that refusal to fly, and last fall I published the story as a novella under the title Lack of Moral Fibre. This novella was included in my Grounded Eagles trilogy. I was very pleased with the result that relied heavily on flashbacks to explain how Kit had ended in such an undesirable position.
But Kit wasn’t done with me. No sooner had I completed Lack of Moral Fibre, than Kit woke me up in the middle of the night to say. “But my story didn’t end there.” The RAF had offered Kit a second chance, the opportunity to redeem himself, and he had seized the opportunity, agreeing to pilot training and a return to operations. Lack of Moral Fibre was the beginning, effectively the teaser, for what happened next. There was so much more to tell!
Apparently, having convinced him that I was trustworthy and could write to his satisfaction, he now entrusted me with telling the story of his experiences as a Lancaster skipper — and the story of his love. Telling the story of his return to operations was probably not very difficult for him since we had already built-up considerable rapport. Confiding his love of Georgina and helping me to see and understand her was, I’m sure, much more difficult for Kit because it was more private. It also meant we had to get Georgina involved in our joint project.
Georgina, you see, was the daughter of a rural Yorkshire vicar and she had been raised in a happy, informal, horsy environment, but very sheltered, nevertheless. She was naturally shy, modest and reticent to speak about herself, feeling strongly that Kit ought to be the focus of the book. But with Kit’s encouragement, she started to share with me her passion for teaching, especially for teaching children who had been disadvantaged by the bigotry of British class society. She confided her disappointments and failures and self-doubts and quite unconsciously showed me just how great her courage had been in opening her heart to Kit after it had been so ravaged by the loss of her fiancé. She made me understand the full depth of her moral fibre as well as his.
Finally, because Kit and Georgina trusted me, Georgina’s father, Reverend Reddings, decided to share his — often profound! — thoughts with me. The book is very much richer for Rev Reddings contributions since Kit and Georgina were so young in the period described that Georgina’s father is frequently the only “adult in the room.”
Of course, I still had to do my “homework.” To be able to do justice to Kit’s story, I had to be able to describe and explain — and that meant visualize and understand — many aspects of his experience that are no longer self-evident to us – from rationing and wartime shortages to bomber operations. My job as an author was to make Kit’s story comprehensible to readers no longer familiar with his environment and society. In short, I had to do an immense amount of research.
So, you see, the book you now hold in your hand is a joint work. The core of the story came from Kit and Georgina, but I worked very hard to make it comprehensible, interesting and understandable for modern readers like you. I hope I have succeeded and that you will come to love Kit and Georgina as I did — and maybe learn not only about the courage and sacrifices of aircrew in WWII but gain insights about overcoming the challenges of living that will help you live your own life too.
Helena P. Schrader
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.
Her latest book is the historical/military fiction, Moral Fibre: A Bomber Pilot’s Story.
Visit her website at http://helenapschrader.com or connect with her on Facebook. You can also visit her blogs:
“[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/3zAlbkL
Distributor: https://itascabooks.com/products/moral-fibre-a-bomber-pilots-story?_pos=1&_psq=Moral+Fibre&_ss=e&_v=1.0
This is my first blog tour and I had fun do a variety of interviews and guest blog posts, but this was by far the "assignment" that I enjoyed most. The idea of trying to say directly to a reader what I wanted them to understand about the book made me look at it in a different way and come to understand my relationship to the book better. I hope readers enjoy these messages from authors too! Thank you for the opportunity!
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