Glynis Peters Books In Order

Publication Order of The Red Cross Orphans Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Glynis Peters is a historical fiction author from Essex in the UK that made her name as the author of the bestselling title “The Secret Orphan.” She has been married for more than four decades and is lucky enough to have married her high school sweetheart with whom she has three children. The first novel she ever wrote was when she was practicing as a nurse and moved from the UK to Cyprus. Peters become hooked to writing and by the time she came back to the UK in 2013, she had five novels to her name. In 2014, she made the shortlist for the New Talent Award by the Festival of Romantic Fiction. Ever since she signed a publishing contract with HarperCollins, she has been classified as a hybrid author having self-published for more than a decade. “The Secret Orphan” which was her first novel with HarperCollins was published in 2018 and is the first book set in the Second World War that she has written. In her self-publishing days, she was a historical fiction author writing as Glynis Smy. During this time, she specialized in the Victorian era and hence when she started working with HarperCollins, she felt she needed to change in her new iteration as a traditionally published author.

Glynis always dreamed of becoming a conventionally published author even though she already had much success as an independently published one. When she came back from Cyprus and started winning awards for her self-published novels, she was approached by Charlotte Ledger who was at that time HarperImpulse’s Editing Director that she met at a book launch. Ledger’s request for Glynis to submit something came as a complete surprise and they went back and forth on an idea until she decided to write something completely different that the editor loved. Within two months, she was done writing the manuscript for “The Secret Orphan.” She had been given a twelve-week deadline and she broke it down into 2000 words a day so that she could meet it. Peters would cross out each day on the calendar with a sense of achievement until she finally managed to hit the 90,000-word requirement. “The Secret Orphan” was her big breakthrough as it made several bestseller lists in Europe, Canada, and the United States. She now has three novels set in World War II-era England.

When Glynis Peters is not writing her novels, she loves to make greeting cards, cross-stitch, and go fishing with her husband. She also enjoys playing with her granddaughter that lives near her in Essex. Since one of her grandsons lives in Canada, she decided to introduce a Canadian character in her debut novel “The Secret Orphan.”

Glynis Peters’ debut novel “The Secret Orphan” is set in Coventry in November 1940. The 14th of November was a day the inhabitants of the city would never forget as more than 500 planes of the German Luftwaffe used moonlight to find their targets. There was great loss of life and devastation all across the city, even though the people would not let themselves be daunted. The brave populace remained determined to ensure that Britain would remain a free country. The novel opens to an ongoing raid on the city where Rose who is now eighty-five was six years old at the time. Rose had been playing the piano at the corner while her mother was busy making Moonlight Sonata her play. One moment planes are roaring overhead and just as they are getting used to it, a huge bomb blast blows them off their feet. Bombs are falling all over the place, alongside a whistling sound and the deafening thud of the bombs falling and exploding. Rose lays trapped in the rubble after the wall of the house fell on her. All she can see is a bright and large moon illuminating the clear sky. In the distance, she can hear the screams of other children and the crackling od several fires which makes her very afraid. Rose can remember her friends Jackson and Elenore that she loved so dearly and the events of that night are very clear as if they happened yesterday.

“The Orphan Thief” by Glynis Peters is another novel set in World War II Coventry, where the bombs of the Luftwaffe are raining down on the city. Ruby Shadwell a sixteen-year-old girl had come home to find her family and home is gone, and a huge crater in the ground where they should have been. Shocked by the events of the day, she decides to head to her grandma’s house, only to discover that she had also disappeared and lost her house too. Nonetheless, while she grieves for the loss of her family, she is determined to build a life and future for herself. Along the way, she meets Tommy, Beatty, and Fred who become her new little family. She builds a business of selling and buying things until her little shop is taken out by a bomb. She joins the war effort with several other people knitting garments for the men fighting the German Nazi machine. One day while she is rifling through the debris, she meets John Clayton, a Canadian photographer with whom she becomes friends with and later lovers. The story is about the challenges people that lived during the Second World War had to face and deal with. It is not so much a romance novel, but a story of how people persevered and coped in the struggle for survival in wartime.

Glynis Peters’ “The Forgotten Orphan” is a story set in Southampton that tells the story of an orphan girl living during the Second World War. The lead in the novel is Maisie Reynolds an orphan that was separated from her twin brother to go live at Holly Bush Orphanage. She had been forced to live without kindness or love, even though she had never lost the kindness and love that was in her heart. When the Second World War rolled around, her life was transformed as it seems fate had some very interesting plans for her life. When she bumps into a Canadian paratrooper named Cam, she thinks that maybe she could come to love and be loved. It is a brilliant and touching story that tells of how Maisie grows as a character and person through her experiences. She discovers love and fall in love in what is a heartbreaking but cute romance as Maisie get to feel things she had never felt before in her life.

2 Responses to “Glynis Peters”

1. Judy Sturgeon: 2 years ago

   Should Glynis Peters’ books be read in any particular order?

   Reply
   • Graeme: 2 years ago

     When the 2nd book in the Red Cross Orphans series is out you will want to read that after The Red Cross Orphans. But the others are all standalone and can be ready in any order.

     Reply