England fascinates us and D-day is one of the most pivotal days in modern history, so I enjoyed exploring both for THE SEA BEFORE US, book 1 in the Sunrise at Normandy series. Here are some interesting facts I learned while researching this story. In March 1942, the BBC held a photography contest, asking people to send in their favorite pictures of the French coast. Thirty thousand “snaps” were sent the next day, and soon a million snapshots, postcards, and tourist maps were collected. The BBC was secretly working with the Royal Navy, and those souvenir pictures were combined with reconnaissance photos and intelligence from the French resistance and from Allied commando raids to produce maps of Normandy for D-day! Clever, huh? In THE SEA BEFORE US, my heroine, “Wren” Second Officer Dorothy Fairfax helps sort and analyze this material. Since her family took holidays at Vierville-sur-Mer—on what will become Omaha Beach—she has a personal interest in her duties. The “Little Blitz” in early 1944 has been overshadowed in history by the Blitz (1940-41) and the V-1 and V-2 attacks on London that started in late 1944. From January 21 to April 18, 1944, the Luftwaffe sent its bombers back…