News

Jambusters was recently listed in the Nielsen Bookscan 2015 top 50 bestselling history titles – at position 22, and was one of just 4 in the list written by a woman.Read the article.

With four episodes screened so far, Home Fires, the drama series inspired by Jambusters, is the best performing Sunday evening drama for ITV in 2014 and so far in 2015 after Downton Abbey, with a consolidated average rating of 6.2 million viewers to date and a 24% share of the audience.Read the press release: ITV commissions a second series of Home Fires.

Home Fires, the drama series inspired by Jambusters, will commence on Sunday 3 May 2015 at 9pm on ITV and run for six weeks.

PBS Has announced that it will be showing the 6 episode Home Fires drama series inspired by the stories in Jambusters as part of its 2015 Line-up.Further details.

Read the press release: MASTERPIECE Adds More New Titles in 2015.

This is the very exciting news from ITV that a stellar cast has been assembled for Jambusters, now to be called Home Fires. I have made one set visit already and was intensely moved by seeing the world I know so well from books and black and white photographs come alive. It was living, breathing and smelling in a completely believable and wonderful way.Steve November, ITV Director of Drama:
“Great writing from Simon has given Julie Summers’ wonderful book a fictional life. The women are real and engaging and have fantastic spirit and attitude. With World War II on the horizon, multiple strands of plot interweave to create a period drama full of jeopardy and intrigue, but also great humanity and modernity.”For full details, read the ITV Press release: Production commences on World War II drama Home Fires.

Amazon.co.uk have selected Jambusters for their Kindle Summer Sale, running from the 18 July until 1 September. Get your copy now for just £1.99.Click here for more details and to purchase.

New ITV drama Jambusters to tell the story of women on the Second World War Home FrontClick here for further details.

From the end of September Julie is undertaking a tour of British theatres with the lecture Everest Needs You, Mr Irvine. The interest in what happened to George Mallory and Sandy Irvine close to the summit of Mount Everest in June 1924 is undiminished. This illustrated talk captures Sandy’s brief life, bringing his passion, energy and incredible inventiveness to the fore.Dates and venues

The launch coverage of When the Children Came Home had been huge, ranging from Woman’s Hour on Radio 4 to serialisation in the Mail on Sunday You Magazine and the Daily Express, to Guardian Family and The Lady. Reviews appeared in the Mail on Sunday (5* from Craig Brown), the Independent, Daily Mail, Sunday Times, BBC History Magazine, The Week, and in the Weekly News.

The Colonel of Tamarkan was Runner-up in Best Audiobooks of the Year 2010. Thousands of votes were received for books on the shortlist of 20 and The Colonel received 12% of the national vote, just 3% behind The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The first prize went to Dr Who. A huge thanks to everyone who voted for The Colonel.

This book was published by Shire Books in July 2010. It looks at the surprisingly short history of war cemeteries – just 95 years, from the Crimean to Korea. Fully illustrated. For more details, click here.

This commemorative book was published to coincide with the Commonwealth War Graves exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, London (runs until 30 January 2011) to mark the construction of the first new CWGC cemetery in over half a century. Fully illustrated and with essays by some of the archaeologists involved in the excavations and identification processes, it is a fascinating overview of the project to rebury 250 Australian and British servicemen first buried by the Germans after the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. For more details, click here.

The Colonel of Tamarkan was released as an Audio CD in 2009. Abridged by Neville Teller and read by Anton Lesser. www.chromeaudio.com. Both audio CDs were featured in the Sunday Times Best of 2009. Chrome Audio was the only production company with two audio CDs nominated, which was very exciting.

“It is in the courage, honesty and vividness of these first-hand accounts that the power of these reminiscences lies” – Daily TelegraphStranger in the House was published on 1st September 2008. The paperback released 6th July 2009.

Julie was interviewed by Jenni Murray on Woman’s Hour and the book was serialised in You Magazine in November, and has been reviewed in the Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, the Mail on Sunday, Good Housekeeping, BBC History Magazine and most recently The Sunday Times.

An audio CD of Stranger in the House is now available via Chrome Audio, Amazon and most good bookshops.