The writers behind SL Roman loved researching the background of their first novel from the word go.

It helped that Laura Meloni Bywaters has a 1^st class degree from Rome University. She’d also worked as an examiner so has a sure sense of detail. Sarah Onions, the other half of the creative pair, worked as a journalist so was used to writing radio scripts under pressure. That meant researching quickly and judging if a story was newsworthy.

Together they got used to discussing the facts behind their novel and going out to do research. They made an early trip to Egham Museum where the staff were very helpful. Sarah and Laura walked straight in and asked to see a newspaper from 1940. One of the curators brought the paper down even though it was fragile in his hands.

The writers also made a trip to Brighton in southern England to see where the original unlucky boy lived before his death.  They made extensive use of the websites of The WW2 People’s War by the BBC and the Imperial War Museum in London and consulted local virtual museums and archives.

Around that time they also found the real child’s grave online which added key detail to their notes. The Find a Grave website helped them to gather more information about the boy used for the character of Ben. They also found a picture of the bombed house in Egham High Street where the real boy and two other children died in November 1940. That photo also showed the men who according to an an eye witness prevented the original child being rescued. This is turn led to the creation of jobsworth Mr Cribbles.

One Year One Night by SL Roman was published in North America and elsewhere in August 2024. Now Laura and Sarah are working on their second novel on the same wartime theme and still doing their research.

Now on sale everywhere: at Barnes and Noble in North America and – in the UK, at Amazon.co.uk and in Surbiton, SW London at The Regency bookshop.