Book Feature: And the Grave Awaits by Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Here’s another book feature, this one for the amazingly talented Robbie Cheadle. Robbie has obviously transcended time as she somehow manages to juggle the needs of her family along with writing, photography, and painting. Today, I’m featuring her latest release; a collection of short stories “And the Grave Awaits” that includes the short story, “The War Babies.”

The Canary Girls and the Origin of The War Babies

The British women who worked in munitions manufacturing trinitrotoluene shells during the First World War (WW1) were the inspiration for this short story. These women were nicknamed ‘Canary Girls’ because exposure to TNT is toxic and repeated exposure turns the skin an unhealthy orange-yellow.

The Canary Girls may not have been fighting in the trenches, but the job they did was fraught with danger. The factories where the munitions were manufactured were targets for enemy fire and were often bombed. In addition, the working conditions were hazardous, and the women worked long hours for low pay. Munitions work involved mixing explosives and filling shells and bullets.

The yellow skin discolouration is the most well-known health issue, but these women also reported headaches, nausea, and skin irritations such as hives. A more serious health consequence of working with TNT power was liver toxicity which resulted in anaemia and jaundice. This condition, known as toxic jaundice, gave the skin the different type of yellow hue associated with jaundice. According to Wikipedia, four hundred cases of toxic jaundice were recorded among munitions workers during WW1, of which one hundred were fatal.

Working with TNT also affected the babies born to the Canary Girls. Hundreds of Canary Babies were born with a slightly yellow skin colour because of their mothers’ exposure to TNT. While nothing could be done for the babies at the time, the discolouration thankfully faded with time.

Canary girls | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books

Canary girls working in a munitions factory during World War One. Picture credit: https://www.vintag.es/2017/08/30-incredible-photos-of-canary-girls.html

Extract from The War Babies

“Mol reached over and swirled her hand in a circle on the window. A peephole appeared in the condensation, obscured by raindrops. She watched the shadowy shapes of people hurrying past on the street outside. Her mother’s words were not lost on her, neither was her gesture towards Mol’s swollen belly and not Lizzie’s, even though both of their babies were due less than a month apart.

Mum gave their orders. “Three teas and three apple pies with custard.”

The waitress shuffled away, and her mum looked at Mol expectantly.

Why can’t she just drop it? Mol thought, rolling her eyes.

“I like my job, Mum,” she said, cringing internally at the defensiveness in her voice. “And it’s important work for the war. The government needs munitions workers.”

“But look at you, Mol. You’re yellow!” She leaned down, pulled a small hand mirror from her cavernous bag, and held it in front of Mol’s face.

Mol’s reflection stared back at her in accusation. Her skin was the bright yellow of a canary, hence the nickname of ‘Canary Girls’ assigned to the munitions girls. A fuzz of short, crinkly ginger hair decorated her forehead and stood up on her crown.

I look hideous. Like a circus freak.

Pushing the mirror away, she said: “The job’s well paid and I’m doing vital war work. Jimmy’s proud of me.”

“Jimmy,” her mum snorted. “He ain’t here, is he? And he may never be. He’s gone back to the front and left you to bring up the kid alone -” She broke off in mid-rant.

Tears ran down Lizzie’s face, splashing onto her protruding stomach.”

About And the Grave Awaits

And the Grave Awaits | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books

The cover of And the Grave Awaits featuring a cross-shaped gravestone with a bunch of roses on top. Cover artwork in charcoal and coloured pencil by Robbie Cheadle.

A collection of short paranormal and dark stories that includes the award-winning short story, The Bite.

A group of boys participate in a reality television challenge; to the death.

What does it mean to be a Canary Girl? One young woman is about to find out.

Where is the bride? A beautiful young woman goes missing during a game of hide and seek on her wedding day.

Some stories will make you cry, some will make you gasp, and some will leave you believing in vigilante justice. All will end with a grave.

Amazon USA pre-order link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7745TZB

About Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Award-winning, bestselling author, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.

Roberta has two published novels, a collection of paranormal and historical short stories, and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She and is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).

Roberta also has sixteen children’s books and three poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle and has poems and short stories featuring in several anthologies under this name.

Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/