The Compass
Usually, I start a book by trying to find the story, but in the case of The Bridge Between Friends, the story found me.
A few years ago, I was window shopping at Hampstead Antiques Emporium when a tiny brass compass caught my eye. The size of it intrigued me. It was one centimetre across – I mean, cute or what! But it was puzzling because it didn’t seem very useful to have a compass that small. The scalloped brass mount was slightly irregular, obviously handcrafted. It had a pendant loop. I wondered what kind of woman would wear a small brass compass on a chain. My kind of woman, I thought, so I bought it.
Last year, I read an article about seventy German prisoners of war digging a tunnel and escaping to freedom from a camp in Wales during World War II. The camp still existed, and luckily for me, there was an open day coming up, so I booked a ticket to find out a bit more.
During my visit, a man in British Army uniform showed me a tiny brass compass which would have been hidden inside a button of a dress uniform – it was an escape compass, he told me. I recognised it straight away, and I knew to my delight that I’d finally been given my answer.
This compass was meaningful and precious enough for a serviceman to gift it to his sweetheart or wife. And there was my love story.
