Seeking Mea Allan

The first biography of Mea Allan. The only woman to report from Bergen-Belsen and the first woman to be permanently accredited as a war correspondent by the British Army.It was a bold unexpected confession, scribbled in a diary by one of the handful of women reporters in Fleet Street during the Second World War: 'I’m in love with May Chalmers and I don’t know what to do about it.'Those sixteen words were the first clue that sent author Felicity Goodall off on a journey to unlock the secrets of the fascinating life of a woman once so famous her name was used to advertise Horlicks.Mea Allan was a star reporter on Britain’s biggest-selling daily paper, the first woman on a Fleet Street news desk and to be permanently accredited to the British army as a war correspondent, and the only woman to report from newly liberated Belsen. Had she been written out of history because of her sexuality? Or was something more subtle at work?In Seeking Mea Allan, Felicity interweaves past and present as we travel from London to Glasgow, from Paris to Hamburg and beyond. On the journey we meet Mea’s stalker, experience her #MeToo moments and her search for identity at a time when exposure as a queer woman could have devastating consequences. Only in the 1960s could she finally flout convention, living openly with her female partner in a Suffolk village. Join Felicity as she reveals the story of a legacy begging to be told.