When We Were Divided, Book Launch with Liz Flanagan

Three women’s lives are woven together – and transformed – when the English Civil War comes to the puritanical Yorkshire clothing towns. While tested to their limits, each finds that war brings a chance to break free of the narrow paths laid out for them. Estranged sisters will hold the life of the other in their hands: will they reconcile or destroy each other entirely?
Jane mourns the departure of her last boy, who goes off to fight for the king. She must find a new way to endure, facing family secrets and her own buried grief.
Isabel is spurred into action, finding herself drawn into the local rebel uprising – with unexpected consequences that might mean disaster for her sister Jane.
Kit is left desperate and starving, taking on the identity of a murdered brother. Life in the king’s army brings friendship and new hope, even love at the most perilous moment of all.
As these three lives intertwine, each of them will be altered forever.
WHEN WE WERE DIVIDED
was inspired by a long line of books which bring the past alive, from Liz’s childhood reading of Rosemary Sutcliff, right up to contemporary novels which centre women’s lives, such as
A Net for Small Fishes
by Lucy Jago;
Matrix
by Lauren Groff and
The Marriage Portrait
by Maggie O’Farrell. She has also responded deeply to her local landscape with its woods and moorland. Walking daily up the steep cobbled path where this civil-war skirmish took place, her imagination couldn’t seem to shake off those ghosts.
Liz Flanagan
is a novelist from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, UK. She’s created work ranging from historical fiction for adults, fast-paced teenage fiction, to fantasy adventures for young children. She’s inspired by the beautiful landscape of her hometown and a lifetime of reading voraciously. Liz has won several awards, including a UKLA Award in 2024, and been nominated for the Carnegie Medal. She is currently working on a new middle-grade series and two standalone stories. In future, she hopes to continue creating immersive, exciting and emotional stories for different ages.
Please Note: This event is at York Explore, Library Square, Museum St, York, YO1 7DS
Part of York Literature Festival

Performance: Sat 14 Mar at 2:00pm
Venue: Explore York Library, York Explore Library
Duration: 0 hours

Please Note: This event is at York Explore, Library Square, Museum St, York, YO1 7DS