May Ellis is the pen-name of Alison Knight. She writes historical and romance novels. She will be giving a talk from 2:00-3:00 at Blandford Town Museum with Paula Harmon on 13th November 2026.
New Shoes & Old Knickers
May Ellis and Paula Harmon will be speaking about researching their historical novels. From the role of Quakers and secret missions in Somerset, the role of women in shoe factories, via what the well-dressed Edwardian might do with her underwear, May and Paula will share some of the fascinating, and occasionally bizarre, facts they’ve uncovered for their books, including several they’ve had to leave out because no one would believe them.
About the author
May Ellis has been a legal executive, registered childminder, professional fund – raiser and a teacher. She has travelled the world, including trekking in mountains, deserts and the Great Wall of China, as well as helping build a house in Thailand. She went to university in her forties and gained a first class degree and an MA in Creative Writing while still working full-time. Her first book, a contemporary romance, was published in 2014, the first of three books with Accent Press. In 2020 she moved to Darkstroke books, writing three gritty dramas set in the 1960s/70s.
She is now published by Boldwood Books, where she writes as May Ellis. The four book series about the Clarks Factory Girls set in the First World War are now available, as is Lily’s Choice, a story based on real events in her family in London in the 1960s and The Cider Girls: a new series set in Somerset in the Second World War. Her Somerset stories are inspired by her move to the area and her love of social history.
She now lives in Somerset, within sight of Glastonbury Tor, volunteering at her local library and for the Alfred Gillett Trust (custodians of the Clark’s archives).
May’s Latest Release: The Cider Girls Join the Fight: A BRAND NEW Somerset wartime drama of bravery, secrets and sacrifice
1941, Somerset: the shadow of war is closing in.
Two years into the conflict, Rose is adjusting to life as a Land Girl, working the Somerset fields alongside Jimmy, the farmer’s son whose watchful, protective attention she can neither escape nor ignore. Thankfully, she has found companionship in Daisy, a district nurse, and Elsie, an ATS clerk. New friends thrown together by the necessities of war, they call themselves the Cider Girls.
As the threat of invasion grows, the girls prove their courage to the commanding officer of a secret resistance unit and are drawn into a dangerous world of espionage, coded messages and hidden loyalties.
But there is trouble close to home too. Daisy knows she is in love with her lifelong friend Mattie, but will she speak the truth before it’s too late? Elsie’s life is shattered by the tragic death of her sister, leaving her with an impossible choice. And Rose finds her work in the resistance increasingly hard to hide.
In a world of secrets and sacrifice, can the Cider Girls’ friendship see them through the darkest days yet?
