85 years on from the end of the Spanish Civil War, author Maggie Brookes uncovers its hidden heroes. Plus the extraordinary war story she found in a lift!

Send us Fan MailMaggie Brookes is an ex-journalist, BBC TV producer and creative writing lecturer, now full-time novelist and poet.  She was born in London and has been writing stories and poems since she was six. Maggie says: "The principal theme which recurs in my work is the strength and courage of women in adversity.  I am drawn to stories which take place in wartime because because of my parents’ experience in the second world war.  My dad was a prisoner of war and my mum was a nurse. I think I get my abhorrence of war from the waste of life they witnessed. War shows the human race at its worst, and yet can also bring out the best of it."In this conversation Maggie reveals how she  uncovered the Spanish Civil war's hidden heroes for her latest book, Acts of Love and War and how she feels her way into an authentic version of the past. Plus her intriguing encounter in a lift!Thank you to our media partner: Family History Zone – a website covering archives, history and genealogy.  Please check then out at www.familyhistory.zone and consider signing up for their free weekly newsletter.