BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Local author and freelance writer, Bill Lockwood, who contributes to The Vermont Journal and The Shopper, recently published his fifth book titled, “Gare de Lyon.” Lockwood’s previous titles include “The Monsignor’s Agent” (2019), “Ms. Anna” (2018), “Megan of the Mists” (2017), and “Buried Gold” (2016).
Lockwood’s books are published by New York-based The Wild Rose Press, a small publisher that was primarily releasing eBooks early when they launched in 2006. The press has now grown to include over 500 authors and 3,500 titles. Their books range from fantasy, contemporary and romance novels – to mainstream, adult and young adult fiction – to “series” and “themed” stories.
“Starting in 2016, this is my fifth historical fiction novel with The Wild Rose Press,” Lockwood said in a recent interview. “They must like my writing because they keep accepting my stories. My next one is already written, under contract with them, and in the editing process.”
Bill’s newest release tells the story of South Boston’s Mary O’Reily, a graduating art major who goes to Paris to further study art and starts calling herself Marie. However, she becomes trapped by the Nazi occupation and ends up working in a bread shop after being forced to close her art school.
“Marie starts carrying messages for the proprietor who is with the Resistance,” Lockwood summarized. “The Gestapo raids, and Marie must flee. The Resistance assigns her to escort a downed RAF pilot on her route to safety, which turns out to be not such an easy task.”
“Unlike my other books that are all set from the early ‘70s to the early ‘90s, ‘Gare de Lyon’ is set in World War II Paris and France,” he added. “My other books have all been ideas I had for a long time – sometimes years – but once I start writing the final version I send to the publisher, it usually takes about four to six months to complete, but this one was a little different.
“I have read extensively about World War II and have heard stories from my parents’ generation. I am also a participant in community theater and being involved in a production of ‘Cabaret,’ which involves an American writer who goes to pre-World War II Berlin, got me thinking about my own story set in the same war era. I had the idea of a young American art student who is trapped by the World War II occupation of Paris and who falls in with the Resistance.”
Originally from Baltimore and a retired state social services worker, Lockwood and his wife moved to this area in the early ‘90s. He has long been involved in the Bellows Falls community and was the longest serving chairman of the committee to spearhead the restoration of the Bellows Falls Opera House, an achievement that earned him the Greater Falls Regional Chamber of Commerce “Person of the Year” award in 2006. He has also been active in community theater and for many years has written about the arts for several local newspapers.
Lockwood recently hosted two successful book events, one at Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls and one at Blair Books and More in Chester. Bill usually brings friends from community theater to these events to read parts from his book.
“My next book titled ‘Forced Entry’ is set during the terror following the Manson killings in California in the early ‘70s. I expect that book to be out in the spring, and I am also working on a sequel to ‘Gare de Lyon,’ which picks up where we leave off with Marie in Casablanca,” Lockwood concluded.