The Restoration Garden: A Novel - 34

The story and characters in this book are entirely fictional. However, the character of John Clarke and his role in bringing the cavity magnetron prototype to America was inspired by the real-life Henry Tizard, an English scientist who was instrumental in the development of radar technology during World War II. In the fall of 1940, Tizard led a top-secret mission to share British military research with his counterparts in the United States in exchange for the industrial resources to mass-produce the technologies. It was a risky venture. German U-boats were a significant danger for anyone crossing the Atlantic, and there were no guarantees the Americans would agree to the trade.

A particularly interesting real-life fact about the mission is that one of the team members—a young scientist by the name of Edward Bowen—nearly lost the metal box containing the top-secret prototypes and blueprints when it was tied to the top of a taxi. A porter at Euston station collected the box from the taxi while Bowen collected the rest of his luggage. Ultimately, Bowen did retrieve the box and the mission was successful, bringing about a new era of scientific collaboration between Great Britain and the United States.

It was all the possible what-ifs that inspired me to write this story: What if the cavity magnetron was actually lost? What if those who greatly opposed the idea of giving away Britain’s most valuable secrets tried to sabotage the mission? What if Henry Tizard had a family who didn’t understand the gravity of his work? In researching this fascinating piece of history, I found The Tizard Mission: The Top-Secret Operation That Changed the Course of World War II by Stephen Phelps and Top Secret Exchange: The Tizard Mission and the Scientific War by David Zimmerman to be quite helpful.

I have tried to keep most historical events referenced in the story accurate. There were, however, a few dates and events that I altered slightly to make the story work. Victory gardens were encouraged by the British government as early as 1939, but most historical accounts suggest they were not widespread until later in the war. The specific locations and timings of the Luftwaffe attacks in this story have also deviated from fact to suit the story, though the Blitz did begin on September 7, 1940, with October 14, 1940, being one of the most devastating nights due to the attack on Balham station.

The language of flowers is also a real concept that I drew upon for the story. There is no definitive guide or dictionary, and many resources provide contradictory meanings for various flowers. To maintain consistency, I relied upon Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers by Jessica Roux and The Complete Language of Flowers: A Definitive and Illustrated History by S. Theresa Dietz (both of which contain stunning botanical illustrations) to source most of the meanings referenced in the book. In a few cases, I simply invented meanings for the sake of the story.