Yesterday we welcomed back author and ex-Hurtwood student Josie Ferguson to speak to our students about her debut novel The Silence In Between and to give them advice on writing a historical novel and how to secure a publishing deal.

Josie’s novel, about a mother separated from her newborn son by the Berlin wall, is an exploration of love in a fractured city and the devastating impact of sexual violence during conflict. Set in Berlin in 1945 as Soviet soldiers arrived and in 1961 when the border was sealed overnight, The Silence In Between has been praised by The Guardian as “a haunting and compassionate account of war’s legacy, the atrocities inflicted on ordinary German women and their extraordinary resilience.” Josie studied English Literature, Media Studies and Theatre Studies at Hurtwood and The Silence In Between has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction prize and reached number 7 in The Times Bestseller list in its first week of publication.

Having answered the many questions from our current students, Josie (known at school as ‘Joey Bonde’) met up with ex-Hurtwood student and presenter James Gaffney to film an episode for the second series of our Hurtwood podcast ‘Beyond the Hill’ which will be coming soon.