WRITE IN LOVE
It was like a vital piece of the puzzle had been missing
AS a thriller writer, Brian Landers knows there are lots of stories that could never have happy endings.
But in his case it was a tale of true love winning through – after a wait of 37 years.
Brian fell for Liz Maguire-denlegh-maxwell when they were students in the 1970s but her strict dad made her sever all ties, saying he was too working class.
Brian, 71, now an OBE, was devastated and dealt with his heartache by writing spy novels, making Liz the lead character.
Then, decades later, they met again, rekindled their love and are now living happily together as husband and wife.
Brian, who is finally about to publish his series of books, said: “It’s magical. I’m in love with my best friend.”
Liz, 69, said: “When he came back into my life, it was like a vital part of the puzzle had been missing.
From that point, everything made sense.”
Liz was smitten as soon as she met Brian at Exeter
University in 1970.
“He was lovely, so interesting, quick-witted and different,” she said.
Brian added: “She really stood out and had a confidence about her. She is incredibly bright.”
Travelled
He will never forget her standing up to then NUS president, Jack Straw, who later became Home Secretary, after he made a speech.
Brian said: “She was wearing amazing paisley hot pants. Everybody was looking at them.” The couple were inseparable and planned to set up home together. “I even bought her a jade engagement ring from a shop in Hatton Garden,” he said.
But their dreams were shattered by Liz’s dad – a priest and Navy officer, who said he would disown her if they got married.
Liz recalled: “Class was a big issue then. He said, ‘Oil and water do not mix’. I’d been to a boarding school, Brian was a grammar school boy whose father was a social worker.”
Brian said: “I was secretly hoping she’d realise the error of her ways and get in touch, but she didn’t.”
Liz spent 35 years married to an Army officer and she had two children.
While she was deputy head of Wycombe Abbey all-girls school in Buckinghamshire, Brian travelled the world as a company director, serving on the boards of Waterstones and Penguin Books.
He helped establish a political intelligence unit in London, became director of HM Prison Service and chairman of Companies House. He was awarded his OBE in 2018 for services to the economy.
Brian married three times and had three children. But he never forgot Liz.
When they split up in the 1970s, he moved to Argentina and wrote his spy thrillers, but kept them in a drawer.
Then, in 2008, he published a non-fiction history book, something he had often discussed with Liz at university. When a friend said they knew where she worked, he sent her a flyer about the book. And that brought them back together after 37 years apart.
When the envelope landed at her school, she instantly recognised his handwriting.
Liz, whose father died in 1980, said: “I flew down the corridor to my room to open it. I was so happy and decided to get him to give a lecture to our sixth form girls.”
Brian cancelled their first lunch meeting through nerves but plucked up the courage to meet in 2009.
Liz recalled: “I recognised him straight away. Although his hair was grey, the way he spoke was the same.”
Brian said: “Within five minutes we were chatting away as if we had lunch every week.”
Liz brought along the engagement ring to their second meeting, which she had often worn over the years.
Knowing they couldn’t lose each other again, and with retirement looming, they took the “incredibly difficult” decision to end their marriages to be together.
In 2012, they set up home in Vauxhall in South London. And three years later, on a holiday in Greece, they proposed simultaneously – not knowing either had planned to. They finally tied the knot in 2015. Liz, who wore red, said: “My son-in-law sang The Beatles’ Long and Winding Road. Apt.”
Brian showed her a draft of his first spy thriller and revealed her role in it. Liz encouraged him to publish it. But their new chapter has not been without upset, with Liz discovering she had leukaemia not long after their Caribbean honeymoon. Happily, she is now in remission and Brian is looking forward to making up for lost time with “the love of his life”.
He said: “We just want to enjoy each other’s company for as long as we can.”
Awakening of Spies is out in June, published by Red Door Press, with a second following in July. See brianlanders.co.uk.