The novel is written from the perspective of children in Germany as
well as in Britain. Deary says, "I wanted to address the cliché that
the Blitz was just a British experience so I also looked at what
happened to the Poles in Germany and brought the stories together."
In the British chapters, we follow siblings Sally and
Billy who remain in Sheffield rather than being evacuated to the
country. Their story centres on their hunt for a burglar who steals
from houses while householders are in the air raid shelters. In
Germany, the story is focused on a boy called Manfred who tries to save
a young Polish girl, Irena, from a Polish work camp in Dachau.
By describing their lives in consecutive chapters, the
reader is given a glimpse of what could have been happening in these
two very different countries at the same time. Later in the book, the
stories are brought together.
Deary says, "The English part of the story was fairly
easy to write. I was born five years after the Blitz in a northern
industrialised town so the whole social environment of that time was
very familiar to me."
The German side of the story required more rigorous
research. Deary decided to base the story in Dachau because it had a
munitions factory which features strongly in his story of the Blitz, as
well as the work camp. While many people know of Dachau as a death
camp, it was actually a work camp for Polish prisoners until 1943.
"Until then, it was Polish people and Catholic priests from Poland who
suffered at the camp," says Deary.
In Put Out the Light, we learn that Sheffield city was a
target for the German bombers because it had the only factory in the
country that made the crankshafts for the Spitfire planes. Had the
factory been bombed, it could have destroyed Britain's airforce. To
prevent the Germans from destroying the factory during an early raid,
British intelligence 'bent' the radar beam that the planes were
following to give them a different target. Unfortunately for the people
of Sheffield, the only alternative target they could use was the city
centre so instead of bombing the factory, the bombers targeted the city
of Sheffield.
These and other details such as the treatment of the
Polish prisoners in Dachau shine a light on some very difficult but
historically true happenings. Deary says, "People need to understand
the horror of what happened. It is shocking that when I grew up after
WWII, I never heard of the Holocaust through all my school years.
People told me about the Battle of Britain and I heard about some of my
dad's experiences as a pilot, but they seemed to want details of the
Holocaust hidden under the carpet."
Deary adds, "I use these historical details because I
want the story to be based in reality. Having a child bail out of a
German bomber in the story may be fantasy but the rest is based on what
actually happened."
Deary is currently preparing a 'Blitz Roadshow'; that
will tour in theatres around the country during October and will
include readings from the book, songs from the time of WWII and videos.
Read
the full interview here
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