November 2020

Jacqueline Winspear’s memoir, THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE’LL BE LAUGHING, takes readers with her to post-War England, where she shares wonderful stories about growing up in a country recovering from war. Readers may know Winspear from her award-winning Maisie Dobbs series, but even if you do not, her storytelling here will completely captivate you. I interviewed her a few weeks ago, and I felt like I was talking to an old family friend. Her stories of her family brought them all so alive to me.

Winspear was raised in Kent, the child of working-class parents. She spent her childhood living, as we would call it today, a bit off the grid. She shares stories of how two World Wars took their toll on three generations --- two that lived through them and a third that watched as the scars of war influenced their elders’ lives.

Winspear was adventurous and for many years never thought of her life as wanting. The photo on the cover was shot when she was three years old. Her pout was because a bee had just stung her lip; she is carrying hops that she was frequently off harvesting. Their rural life was fodder for great storytelling and time for an imagination to thrive. She knew she wanted to be a writer at a very young age, and I loved her stories of her weekly trips to the library with her mother, who would select books for the entire neighborhood.

At a time of year when many are gathering with family, or are longing to be with them, I treasured this time to slip inside hers and share their spirit and joy, as well as their numerous sorrows. Winspear sugarcoats nothing, but at the same time made me smile so many times as I read!