Battle lines, secrets and spies!

The Silver Hand, the new book by Horrible Histories author Terry Deary, takes a look behind the battle lines during World War One and discovers secrets - and spies!

The Silver Hand is Terry's 300th book and it takes the reader to 1918 and to a small town, Bray, near the Somme river. Although the war is creeping to a close, the German and British armies are still fighting. Caught up in the war are two children; Aimee, who is French, and a German boy, Maurius. Soon, they too are caught up in the final battles of the war - and the chilling and dangerous presence of the man with the silver hand. He has Aimee and Maurius in his sights... We asked author TERRY DEARY to tell us more about THE SILVER HAND: Q: Your fiction treats history in a very different way from your non-fiction, which approach do you enjoy the most? A: Given the choice I would only write historical fiction. I am a fiction author, not an historian. I prefer exploring human history through stories, not fact books. Q: Why did you choose this particular town, Bray in France, as your setting for The Silver Hand? A: Bray was a lucky choice. I wanted a location that changed hands several times in the war. Bray was perfect. The skies above Bray were the main arena for the flying ace, The Red Baron, and the place where he was shot down. Q: Why did you decide to focus on two children, one French and one German, in this book? A: I've read too many stories where the Germans are portrayed as 'bad' and the allies as 'good'. Life is never that simple. The Silver Hand shows there were good and evil people on both sides and that if the two could get to know one another they would see that a hated enemy is really just another human being. Q: You also draw on wartime spies. Why did you decide to introduce this element to your story? A: The books were carefully researched and the White Lady group - the French people who spied for the Allies - really existed. But the villains in The Silver Hand aren't trained spies like James Bond. They are just a couple of greedy people who think they can make a pot of money from the war by selling secrets. Q: What was the inspiration behind the silver hand that features so prominently in your story? A: My series of WW1 and WW2 books for Bloomsbury have a common theme - their titles come from plays by William Shakespeare. As I wanted a story leading up to the end of the war, I checked to see what Shakespeare said about peace and a character in his plays talks about 'the silver hand of peace'. Sometimes my books just happen like that - I have two words (silver + hand) and a setting (the end of WW1) and the story emerges from there. Q: Is there anything that can still take you by surprise when you read about WW1? A: I am shocked at how most EVERYTHING I thought I knew about WW1 was wrong. And the mistakes are repeated over and over again in fact books, news reports that look back and fictional tales. I'm not sure why I'm so shocked. Most of the history I've explored has proved to be twisted or downright lies. WW1 is no different. The lesson is do NOT believe everything you read or see. Q: If you could take yourself back in time to a particular place and time in history, where would you go? A: I have discovered that all ages were dirty and disgusting, dangerous and cruel with foul food and terrible toilets. A few rich people had quite pleasant lives but for peasants like me it was mostly misery. The 1950s when I grew up was a fairly peaceful time and I may like to take a time machine back then. But absolutely no other time. Q: Where is your favourite place to write? A: I have an office in my house that looks out over distant Pennine hills to the south, and I can just see the sea 20 miles to the east. It's warm and quiet while my phones and broadband keep me in touch with the world. It's great. But I've written books on bus trips and trains. Q: What are you writing at the moment? And what's your favourite escape from writing? A: I am writing an adult fact-book on crime as well as two plays and a television script. I am editing a fantasy novel (for release in September) with a second adult fact-book, a movie script, two more plays and a children's novel in the queue. Escape from writing? I do road running with a running club and the odd race. I also play guitar and am about to start teaching myself 'slide' guitar. Q: Your other career is acting - is there anything coming up where we should be looking out for you, or are there upcoming films of your books? A: I have a children's TV programme to record but these days I tend to appear as a presenter, rather than an actor. The TV broadcasters like to keep these things secret till they are ready to announce them, so I can't tell you what. When I do book festival appearances I do a one-man performance show. When my new movie script is finished (it's a horror movie called Ravenstone) I will give myself a juicy part.