Book launches agogo this autumn…

Andrew Davies book launch at The Saville club for his memoir 'An Unsuitable Boy. A Life In Scripts' Hanging out with the Peculiar Practice gang.
Chatting to Jenny Colgan at Matthew Sweet's book launch for Barbara Cartland's 'The Great Dictator'

Spotted in the wild in Woking in June by my friend…Lovely to see three of my titles on the shelf…

Cover of a book titled "Betsy’s War" by Eliza Morton, showing a young woman in a red dress with a background of ruins, and a black-and-white headshot of the author, Eliza Morton. The cover includes logos and mentions of the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Saga Romance Award.

‍ January 19th

Happy New Year. Kicking off 2026 with my plr statement which I received yesterday. Not many people know that us authors receive a very small amount each time a book is taken out from a library. So now is the moment to say thank you to all libraries, particularly the ones I have visited t do talks about my books. And to everyone who has taken my books out. On my way to 100,000 borrows. Sometimes, when I hit a wall, I look online and see which libraries currently have my books lent out. It always makes my heart leap when I see ‘on loan’ next to one of my titles. A surreal pinch me feeling that somewhere, someone, is reading one of my books. Thank you.

A woman in a pink blazer standing behind a table of books in a library. The books are titled "A Girl from Liverpool" by Elizabeth Morton. The library has white walls, bookshelves, and several computer workstations. There is a sign advertising an afternoon event with Elizabeth Morton meeting fans.

October 3rd

My latest book has been out for three months now. I love it when people spot my sagas out in the wild and send me pictures. Here’s some I’ve received recently. Including one with my mum (doesn’t she look great for 89!) These pictures include TG Jones, Independent book shops, libraries, supermarkets, Waterstones, even National Trust.

A bookcase filled with various novels, predominantly featuring works by authors like Lucy Adams, Rosie Bradshaw, and Mary Bawden, in different colors and sizes, organized on white and wooden shelves.
A bookshelf filled with multiple rows of romance novels, mainly by Debbie Cowan, Josephine Cox, and others, arranged horizontally on white shelves with a wooden frame.
A row of books on a shelf, including titles related to Christmas and books for children, with visible images of young girls on some covers.
Bookshelves filled with various young adult novels, including series like 'Dilly Court' and 'The Winter Girls,' on a wooden floor.
An elderly woman with blonde hair, glasses, and a big smile, holding a book titled 'The Children Left Behind' in a bookstore aisle with shelves of books behind her.
A wooden shelf filled with various books in different colors and sizes, arranged horizontally, with titles including 'Angel of Liverpool' by Elizabeth Morton, 'The Dooober Child', 'East, Oh Lord - East' by Lionel Neill, 'Suite Française' by Irène Némirovsky, 'Eminent Domain' by Carl Neville, 'The Leopard' by Jo Nesbo, 'Borkmann's Point' by Håkan Nesser, 'Say a Little Prayer' by Giles O'Brien, 'The Hundred Days' by Patrick O'Brien, and 'Half Brother' by Kenneth Oppel.
A wooden bookshelf shelf holding a variety of colorful books. Some books are in plastic covers, including 'The House at Riverton' by Kate Morton, 'The Secret Keeper' by Kate Morton, and 'The Little House' by Thea Haus. A pink box labeled 'Jojo Siwa' is on top of the bookshelf, and a black book with a black spine is partially visible on the right side.
Six copies of three different books titled 'The Orphans from Liverpool Lane,' 'The Children Left Behind,' and 'Betsy's War,' arranged in three rows on a wooden surface.
A woman with blonde hair and glasses is sitting at a wooden table, signing a book with a black pen. There are two paperback books titled 'Betsy's War' by Eliza Morton on the table, along with a small black box and a smartphone.

July 23rd Just back from short whizz around the country doing talks and signings. Thank you for all your support! Western Approaches, Pritchards, Write Blend, Nottingham U3A, Twickenham Patch…it goes on…Wonderful to meet you all!

A young man stands inside a small house-shaped booth next to a cardboard cutout of a woman with a photo face, and a colorful artwork of Rosie the Riveter with a woman's face inside. The background shows a sign for Western Association and an indoor space with windows and posters.
A woman standing in front of a seated audience at an indoor event, with colorful artwork on the wall to her left and a large plant nearby. The room has exposed ductwork and round ceiling lights.
A woman with blonde hair and a man sitting inside a blue WWII Tiger Moth airplane, both smiling, with the airplane on the ground in a hangar or storage area. The photo is part of a magazine article about WWII aircraft and historical experiences.

News Flash…

Out 17th July. So exciting to receive my books today. Nearly there. Can’t wait to share. Pre order https://www.amazon.co.uk/Betsys-War-heartwarming-Liverpool-Orphans/dp/1035015242

May 20th

This is me flying a vintage 85 year old Tiger Moth. With a little help from my co-pilot, Andy, in the seat behind! No brakes! No parachute! Exhilarating but terrifying!

A woman with blonde hair smiling in front of a blue vehicle with a sign that reads "Spirit of P" and a house with a porch in the background.
Two smiling women, one with blonde hair and one with gray hair, posing with a vintage blue and white airplane outdoors on a clear day with some clouds, in front of a hangar or workshop.
A woman with blonde hair wearing sunglasses, a leather aviator helmet, a headset, and a vintage leather jacket, standing in front of a small airplane at an airport.

HAPPY 80th VE DAY

HAPPY 80th VE DAY

5th May

This week is the 80th anniversary of VE Day. As my new book Betsy’s War is partly set in the WAAF and Bomber Command, it seemed fitting to share these beautiful images. The thrill of seeing a Lancaster Bomber in flight was utterly wonderful. This was filmed 5th May.

Woman with blonde hair wearing a beige turtleneck and brown plaid coat, smiling inside a store or warehouse.

April 5th

My visit to RAF Manston. Met some wonderful people and was given a tour of the inside of a Lancaster. Really helps to have the experience of what the space would have been like. Came away even more awestruck by those pilots and the young men and women in the RAF during WW2.

April 23rd

Liverpool Waterstones. Yay!

A woman with blonde hair smiling and holding a book titled 'The Orphans from Liverpool Lane' while in a bookstore, surrounded by shelves of books.

This is always exciting. The Bookseller has included Betsy’s War in their July Fiction Previews. The Bookseller is the magazine that is all things bookish. I love it, so am very proud to be in there.

Screenshot of a book page showing the cover and description of the novel "Betsy's War" by Eliza Morton. The cover features a woman with blonde hair and a red blouse, standing against a backdrop of a ruined city with blue skies. The page includes a "Read More" button, the book title, author, and a brief synopsis.

February 20th 2025

Heading to Scotland and discovered Annie Murray’s new book in Edinburgh. Annie is a wonderful saga writer and has written over thirty books, as I’m sure many of you here will know. We are with the same publishers and have become friends. Writing can be lonely so a writer friend is often a lifeline to sanity! Very touched to see my name in the acknowledgments. Thanks, Annie!

Close-up view of a backpack or bag containing a bouquet of colorful tulips and hyacinths, a book titled 'The Sunday Times Bestseller', and a yellow flower. The background shows a rough asphalt surface with small pebbles.

February 22nd 2025

So today I received the copyedits for review. Apologies for those of you on here who already know what that is, but for those who don’t that’s when the editors send you back your manuscript with very specific notes. Some are to do with historical details, for example I referenced Gregory Peck at a time when no one would have heard of him, and a few times I misspelled Betsy, Besty! Amazing what slips through. 133 notes from my lovely editors; questions, timings, grammatical errors. And I found more! My deadline to return is 3rd of March, so hunkering down…

A week left to deliver! More notes and more mistakes, though fewer. It’s like combing sand. 384 pages. And still I find a character entering a room when they’re already there! 😀

Book cover for 'Betsy's War' by Eliza Morton featuring a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a red dress, standing in front of a background with ruins and a cloudy sky.

My girls….

Book cover of 'Eliza Morton: The Orphans of Liverpool Lane' showing a young girl with long hair sitting on a suitcase in a war-torn street with smoke and buildings in the background.
Cover of 'The Children Left Behind' by Eliza Morton, featuring a young girl with short curly hair, wearing a red shirt, in front of a cityscape at sunset with children playing on the street.
Elizabeth Morton's books recommended in The Bookseller

Well, this is also lovely. The biggest thrill is to see Trisha Ashley on the opposite side of page. Trisha got me started as a published author when I was runner up in the Trisha Ashley Short Story Competition, and she introduced me to my agent, Judith Murdoch. Trisha’s talent, determination, and feistiness has been an inspiration to me. So this means a lot!

February 30th

So today I discovered five of my books have been pirated by Meta to train AI. Unnerving. But when I asked AI to write me a passage in the style of Eliza Morton, it wasn't that great. No northern sense of humour and no realistic dialogue. I'm not redundant yet, though it's a worrying step towards writers keeping their value. My answer is to keep writing...!

Search results for Eliza Morton showing two book titles: "The Orphans from Liverpool Lane" and "The Children Left Behind"
Books on a bookstore shelf, including 'The Children Left Behind' by Eliza Morton and 'Our Holiday' by Janice Hallett. A promotional sign offers a 3 for 2 deal on selected books.

January 20th 2025

Went to my local WH Smith and absolutely delighted to see I’m still in the bestselling list seven months after my book came out. Also, they have a dedicated section to romance and saga. That’s the great news. A little sad, to hear they’re closing 20 stores today as they have been so supportive of me. Let’s hope that’s not the beginning of more closures. The high street is really struggling at the moment.

January 27th 2025

How to go from elation to devastation in a week! Just heard that WH Smith High Streets are to close! They have been where I sell most of my books. So a worrying time. I’ll be watching the news closely and seeing how it impacts on my next book.

Here’s a picture of Betsy’s War. Let’s hope she finds a space with her sisters this summer…

Cover of the book titled "Betsy's War" by Eliza Morton, featuring a woman with blonde hair, crossed arms, and a confident expression, standing in front of a war-torn cityscape with damaged buildings and cloudy sky in the background.
Elizabeth Heery Elizabeth Heery

Countdown to publication…

Happy belated New Year! So I have decided that I will try and write a blog, counting down to my new book, Betsy’s War, coming out in July. Sometimes it’s helpful to me when I read the experiences of other writers, especially those who write the same genre. I hope to share what the journey is like from where I have handed in my first draft to my editor - I’m currently waiting for notes from my copy editor - to publication day. I always wrote a diary from when I was about twelve to about thirty. Some of it was pretty mundane but I like to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and I’ve often looked back to those diaries in my research - how did it feel, what did it look like, how did it sound. The years after I put the diary away, it seemed like digital took over and so memories were often photographed, everything was so much more immediate. Also my husband Peter always managed to catalogue the family with his video camera. But my New Year’s 2025 resolution is to try and go back and communicate old style, by writing it down here on the blog. I don’t know if anyone will come along with me on this journey, I hope so but I never wrote my diary other than to commit to the page my routines and inner thoughts, so I will write this blog in the same spirit. As a small peek preview, in order to really understand my characters in this new book set in the RAF in WW2, I have taken the decision to do something dramatic and exciting and a little bit scary. More of that in due course….

Read More

BETSY'S WAR

BETSY'S WAR

BETSY'S WAR BETSY'S WAR

January 10th 2025

Today I visited the National Portrait Gallery. I wanted to look at this beautiful painting of a young flying ace pilot, Albert Ball, who died at 20. By chance, I met Rob Glen also looking at the painting, aged 91, whose brother-in-law had been in bomber command. We had a lovely chat about that and other war stories, and I took these photos. Aural history and history of art colliding on a January afternoon in London.

An elderly man with white hair and glasses smiling while looking at a portrait painting of a young woman in a vintage framed art piece.