Jambusters tells the story of the minute and idiosyncratic details of everyday life during the Second World War for the 5,546 Women's Institutes and how they helped to improve the lot of millions of their fellow Britons. With all the vigour, energy and enthusiasm at their disposal, a third of a million country women set out to make their lives and the lives of those around them more bearable in what they described as 'a period of insanity'. The whole of its previous history - two decades of educating, entertaining and supporting women and campaigning on women's issues - culminated in the enormous collective responsibility felt by the members to 'do their bit' for Britain. Click here to catch up on her writings.The Second World War was the WI's finest hour. In this season, it is 1940 and the German army is advancing and Britain is bracing itself for the frighteningly real prospect of invasion. For the women left behind, the separation from their menfolk becomes ever more painful as the Battle of Britain rages in the skies overhead and the first bombs start to fall.īack in 2016, “Jambusters” author Julie Summers wrote a series of “Home Fires” blogs in which she provided valuable insight into how life was lived during this tumultuous time of war. VisionTV is ecstatic to present a special encore presentation of “ Home Fires” season two! Join us Wednesdays (from May 23 to June 27 at 10pm ET/7pm PT), and take a trip back to Great Paxford. “Your support of the ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ novel has been both generous and brilliant. “I am, as ever, hugely appreciative of your enthusiasm for the characters and stories of Great Paxford, both on television and more recently in book form,” recently commented Block. On May 3 of this year, Bonnier Zaffre published that aforementioned package in paperback form. In 2017, Block released a four-part e-book series entitled “ Keep the Home Fires Burning,” which was soon followed by an e-book that combined the series of books into one package. Julie Summers – who wrote “ Jambusters,” the book that inspired the “Home Fires” TV series – was “delighted” with Block keeping the story alive. If it couldn’t continue on television, why not in book form? Novels are adapted for the screen all the time, why not the other way round?”

“It was at that point I began to seriously consider the idea.

“People on social media began to ask me if it might not be possible to continue the stories as books,” said Block in an interview with Oxford Times.

In fact, these people wanted “ Home Fires” back so badly, they implored series creator Simon Block to keep the story going in book form.

British period drama “Home Fires” is an example of this, having been cancelled following its second season.ĭespite its early departure, supporters of the show were not ready to let it go. Every so often you have a television series that has a sizeable fan base, yet is unable to maintain a long shelf life.

Jambusters novel