Coming Soon: A Rose in No Man's Land

My next novel, A Rose in No Man's Land, will be released in early November by British publisher Book Guild.  The story is set in Flanders and France in 1915, in the midst of the heavy fighting between the British and German armies in the First World War.  In the opening chapter, Frank Harrington, an American just graduated from college, is taking his ambulance, a converted Model T Ford, out for his first pick-up of badly wounded British soldiers at the front.  He makes the perilous trip, in the darkness under German bombardment, to a British Casualty Clearing Station in a converted monastery, where he meets Kit Stanley, a young volunteer British nurse, taking a break after working through the night assisting in the operating theatre.  Thus begins a love affair between Kit and Frank, complicated by the fact that Kit is already in a relationship with Captain Nigel Owen, the CO of a battalion of British infantry in the thick of the worst trench fighting in the Flanders sector. Frank Harrington is one of several thousand young Americans who've volunteered to drive ambulances for the British and French armies under the auspices of the American Field Service, despite strict American neutrality.  The novel can be pre-ordered at amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and will be available at select bookstores in the US and UK, and online, beginning in November. 

What Others Are Saying About Cardigan Bay:

C. Michael Curtis, Senior Fiction Editor, The Atlantic Monthly: "This is fine writing. Kerr spins a compelling tale involving Crypto-Nazis, the IRA, plans to end World War II, and a precarious romance to thicken the mix."

Wm. Roger Louis, Chair of English History and Culture, the University of Texas at Austin: "Based on scrupulous research, the book demonstrates a commitment to factual accuracy in its portrayal of wartime London and the planning of the Allied invasion of Europe."

James Cellan-Jones, noted British film and television director: "I enjoyed Cardigan Bay very much. I would be delighted to direct it if the opportunity arose."

BOOKMARKS has selected Cardigan Bay for it prestigous 6th annual Festival of Books taking place in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina on September 11, 2010.

IRISH AMERICA (January 2009) Review of Books:

"Set during World War II in Ireland, prior to the invasion of D-Day, Kerr examines Ireland's complex stand of neutrality during World War II while also telling a complex tale of Nazi assassination plots and IRA gunrunning."

Newspaper and Magazine Reviews

October 2008, Book of the Month Selection. "The theme of courage mingled with ambivalent attitudes toward the war is inforgettable. John Kerr gives the reader a new understanding of Irish neutrality, the thuggery of the IRA, and the moral resistance among a few officers of the Wehrmacht to the Nazi regime."

San Antonio Express News: "Kerr makes bold to weave a Second World War tale with a new perspective. By including Ireland in the war picture, he creates a compelling tapestry of intrigue and romance out of complex political threads often overlooked by other novelists. The result is a satisfying, comprehensively researched novel that tells the story of the greatest invasion of all time through the eyes of three principal charcaters . . ."

Irish Post Review: "Cardigan Bay has all the ingredients of a great novel - intrigue, romance, politics, deception and espionage and the survival of the human spirit."

Irish American News: "Set against the backdrop of Ireland, England and Wales in World War II, Cardigan Bay is a wonderfully crafted story of love between a young American Irish widow and a British officer and their struggle to find each other amidst preparations for the Normandy invasion . . . A wonderful story, intriguing, quirky side characters, and great descriptive details of living and loving in the war years . . ."

The Harp Review: "Cardigan Bay is one of those rare books that can fall into many different genres of writing. Not only is it an espionage thriller, it is also a romantic novel and one that investigates the neutrality of Ireland during the Second World War."

Cardigan Bay: Introduction

1942. A year of crisis.

Germany's armored divisions have swept across the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and France, and control the continent known as Fortress Europe. In Operation Barbarossa, Hitler drives a surprise attack eastward against the Russians. America, drawn into the war after Pearl Harbor, has yet to reach its full military complement. In North Africa, Rommel's Panzer divisions overrun British positions at Tobruk, taking 25,000 prisoners.

Churchill calls it England's "darkest hour." In a hospital south of London, Major Charles Davenport recovers from wounds received at Tobruk. In Whitehall, a top secret operation is underway. Britain's War Office is hard at work on a plan for the future invasion of the Continent- a plan destined to include Davenport.

Across the Irish Sea, a young American widow seeks refuge on Ireland's eastern shore. Mary Katrin Kennedy has suffered her own wounds- the recent death of her husband and young child. Ireland remains steadfastly neutral in the War, but the island is a battle ground nevertheless, home to desperate IRA plotters and German provocateurs.

Two separate lives, swept up in a year of crisis, and brought together in CARDIGAN BAY. Available in select bookstores and online at http://www.coronapublishing.com/ as well as www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com.