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Stephen Griffiths

Goodreads Author

Born

Leicester, The United Kingdom

Genre

Historical Fiction, History, Romance

Member Since

August 2026

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Stephen Griffiths is the author of When the Robin Whistles.

He had always known that his grandparents had a remarkable story. As a child, he spent much of his summer holidays with them in King’s Lynn and Hunstanton, and over the years fragments of their wartime experiences were shared. There were stories of his grandfather’s years as a prisoner of war, of Poland and of the extraordinary circumstances in which his grandparents had met, but much of what they had endured, particularly during the darker years of the war, remained largely unspoken.
In the 1990s, his grandparents finally began to write their memories down, eventually giving a copy of their notes to each of their four grandchildren.

Many years later, one of Stephen’s own children ask Stephen Griffiths is the author of When the Robin Whistles.

He had always known that his grandparents had a remarkable story. As a child, he spent much of his summer holidays with them in King’s Lynn and Hunstanton, and over the years fragments of their wartime experiences were shared. There were stories of his grandfather’s years as a prisoner of war, of Poland and of the extraordinary circumstances in which his grandparents had met, but much of what they had endured, particularly during the darker years of the war, remained largely unspoken.
In the 1990s, his grandparents finally began to write their memories down, eventually giving a copy of their notes to each of their four grandchildren.

Many years later, one of Stephen’s own children asked to see them. It was only then, while searching through the papers, that he realised parts of his copy had been lost. He turned to his three sisters, only to discover that none of them possessed a complete version either. Thankfully, when the four grandchildren brought their surviving pages together, everything was still there. Their grandparents’ story had survived.

That discovery became the inspiration for When the Robin Whistles.

Originally intended only for his family, Stephen began piecing together the journey his grandfather, Guy, had made from Tattersett, a small Norfolk village, to Warlubie in occupied Poland. What began as an attempt to preserve a collection of family memories soon developed into something far larger as he followed Guy from his departure for France in January 1940, through the fighting and retreat that ended with his capture at St Valery-en-Caux, and into the long years of captivity that followed.
As his research continued, Stephen was able to place his grandparents’ personal recollections within the wider events unfolding around them. Family documents, photographs, wartime records and the surviving accounts of those who had shared some of Guy’s experiences gradually helped to fill the spaces between their notes and bring their world back to life.
In doing so, Stephen found himself on an unexpected journey into his own family history and Polish heritage. Through his grandfather’s memories, he came to understand more fully the courage and generosity of the ordinary Polish people who helped him during his captivity and, later, during his desperate journey through Poland as the war drew towards its end.

When the Robin Whistles is Stephen’s first book. He lives in Scotland with his family.
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