Dark secrets and hidden sorrows abound in Santa Montefiore's spellbinding new novel set in war-torn Italy and the streets of New York.
'Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore' JOJO MOYES
'A wonderful story, beautifully told. I absolutely tore through it!' KAREN SWAN
New York, 1979.
It is Thanksgiving and Evelina has her close family and beloved friends gathered around, her heart weighted with gratitude for what she has and regret for what she has given up. She has lived in America for over thirty years, but she is still Italian in her soul.
Northern Italy, 1934.
Evelina leads a sheltered life with her parents and siblings in a villa of fading grandeur. When her elder sister Benedetta marries a banker, to suit her father's wishes rather than her own, Evelina swears that she will never marry out of duty. She knows nothing of romantic love, but when she meets Ezra, son of the local dressmaker, her heart recognises it like an old friend.
Evelina wants these carefree days to last forever. She wants to bask in sunshine, beauty and love and pay no heed to the grey clouds gathering on the horizon. But nothing lasts forever. The shadows of war are darkening over Europe and precious lives are under threat…
Sometimes your biggest mistake can also be a blessing . . .
Madison has always known she had a different father to her siblings. But it wasn't until she turned eighteen that she learned his name. And now she wants to meet the man who shares her fair hair and blue eyes.
Robert is a very lucky man. A big house, beautiful wife, three handsome sons. Eighteen years ago, he made a mistake. A brief fling that resulted in a daughter nobody else knows about.
Robert must finally tell his family the truth. Will they ever be able to forgive him and accept Madison as one of their own?
A stunning story of loss, love and the summer that changed everything from the number one bestselling author of Songs of Love and War.
1958. Celestria, the charismatic daughter of an aristocratic family, lives in Pendrift Hall, a pale stone mansion with gardens that tumble down to the Cornish sea. It is summer and the weeks ahead hold the promise of self-discovery and the thrilling possibility of elicit love affairs.
Yet tragedy erupts in paradise when one of the family vanishes. A mysterious note is left behind with the words: 'Forgive Me'. Soon Celestria is pulled along a trail of deception, masquerades and mirrors. It will lead her from her idyllic life on the English coast to the orange groves of Southern Italy. It will also lead her to love...
An extraordinary tale of love, desire and forgiveness from the number one bestselling author of Songs of love and War.
Sofia Solanas grows up on a beautiful ranch in the middle of the Argentine pampa. In a world of old-fashioned values, she carves out a place as a rebellious and passionate young woman. But eventually, her stubborn nature leads her to trouble ...
When Sofia's mother Anna discovers that Sofia has embarked on a forbidden love affair, she must act in order to save the family from shame. She sends Sofia to Europe - away from her friends and family and the man Sofia loves. But then, more than twenty years later, a family tragedy calls Sofia home, and she must discover if her passion still lives on ...
From the beloved bestselling author Santa Montefiore comes a new novel filled with humour and heart about being in control - and losing it. For fans of The Temptation of Gracie, Flappy now takes centre stage, more charismatic and competitive than ever.
'Underneath her graceful exterior lies a passion nobody knew about, least of all Flappy herself…'
Flappy Scott-Booth is the self-appointed queen bee of Badley Compton, a picturesque Devon village. While her husband Kenneth spends his days on the golf course, she is busy overseeing her beautiful house and gardens, and organising unforgettable events, surrounded by friends who hang on to her every word.
Her life is a reflection of herself - impossibly perfect.
Until the day that Hedda Harvey-Smith and her husband Charles move into the village. Into an even grander home than hers. Taking the front seat on the social scene, quite literally.
That simply will not do.
Flappy is determined to show Hedda how things are done here in Badley Compton. But then she looks into Charles's beautiful green eyes. And suddenly, her focus is elsewhere. She is only human, after all…
An unforgettable journey of discovery . . .
Federica is moved from Chile to Cornwall when her parents separate, and all she has left of the relationship she cherished with her father, is a wooden box which has a secret beauty hidden within. Swiftly embraced into the eccentric Appleby family, it isn't long before Federica falls for her friend's older brother Sam, who barely notices the little girl until it is too late...
Years later, from the sanctuary of a seemingly perfect marriage, Federica embarks on a painful journey of self-discovery. Will she finally learn the true lesson of the butterfly box?
***PRAISE FOR SANTA MONTEFIORE***
'Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore'
JOJO MOYES
'An enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments'
DINAH JEFFERIES on Songs of Love and War
'Santa Montefiore hits the spot for my like few other writers'
SARRA MANNING
'One of our personal favourites'
THE TIMES on The Last Secret of the Deverills
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR
'Just promise me one thing . . . Have the courage to follow your heart'
Buenos Aires, 1948.
Audrey Garnet lives a sheltered life in the exclusive Argentinian community of Hurlingham. That is, until Cecil and Louis Forrester arrive, travelling from England to make their fortunes.
Admired by all for her beauty and grace, Audrey quickly catches the eyes of both brothers, but it is talented-but-troubled outsider Louis with his musical flair whom she is drawn to most. Cecil, however, is a better match - a decorated war hero who has charmed the entire community, including Audrey's parents, forcing Audrey to keep her true feelings a secret.
But when a family tragedy rocks Audrey's world, she is faced with a terrible dilemma: must she do her duty to her family, or will she finally be able to follow her heart?
***PRAISE FOR SANTA MONTEFIORE***
'Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore'
JOJO MOYES
'An enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments'
DINAH JEFFERIES on Songs of Love and War
'Santa Montefiore hits the spot for my like few other writers'
SARRA MANNING
'One of our personal favourites'
THE TIMES on The Last Secret of the Deverills
A spellbinding novel about marriage, passion, loss, renewal, and the healing power of love from the number one bestselling author of Songs of Love and War.
Married couple, Miranda and David, move out of London into a beautiful country house with an idyllic garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their bucolic dream. Soon the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface, isolating each family member in a bubble of resentment and loneliness.
Then a mysterious Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he? When Miranda discovers his secret in the cottage by the garden, the whole family learns that a garden, like love itself, can restore the human spirit, not just season after season, but generation after generation.
Wise and winsome, poignant and powerfully moving, The French Gardener combines the savvy of contemporary women's fiction with an old fashioned sensibility steeped in the importance of family and the magical power of love.
A sweeping story of love that stretches across the years from the number one bestselling author of Songs of Love and War.
The war has ended and Rita Fairweather is waiting for George Bolton, her childhood sweetheart, to return home to Devon. She wants their future to be a continuing reassurance of their past. But George comes back as a man changed by the horrors he has experienced.
Unable to settle back into a small-town life, George decides to travel to Argentina. And Rita promises to wait. But George faces irresistible temptation and an agonising choice. As the years pass, Rita keeps her word, but how long should she wait for the love of the life?
Faced with losing everything, all that matters is Here and Now...
Marigold has spent her life taking care of those around her, juggling family life with the running of the local shop, and being an all-round leader in her quiet yet welcoming community. When she finds herself forgetting things, everyone quickly puts it down to her age. But something about Marigold isn't quite right, and it's becoming harder for people to ignore. As Marigold's condition worsens, for the first time in their lives her family must find ways to care for the woman who has always cared for them. Desperate to show their support, the local community come together to celebrate Marigold, and to show her that losing your memories doesn't matter, when there are people who will remember them for you . . .
Evocative, emotional and full of life, Here and Now is the most moving book you'll read this year - from Sunday Times bestselling author Santa Montefiore
'Let the wind take me and the soft rain settle me into the Irish soil from where I came. And may my sins be forgiven.'
Arethusa Clayton has always been formidable, used to getting her own way. On her death, she leaves unexpected instructions. Instead of being buried in America, on the wealthy East Coast where she and her late husband raised their two children, Arethusa has decreed that her ashes be scattered in a remote corner of Ireland, on the hills overlooking the sea.
All Arethusa ever told Faye was that she grew up in a poor farming family and left Ireland, alone, to start a new life in America as did so many in those times of hardship and famine. But who were her family in Ireland and where are they now? What was the real reason that she turned away from them? And who is the mysterious benefactor of a significant share of Arethusa's estate?
Arethusa is gone. There is no one left to tell her story. Faye feels bereft, as if her mother's whole family has died with her. Leaving her own husband and children behind, she travels to the picturesque village of Ballinakelly, determined to fulfil her mother's last wish and to find out the reason for Arethusa's insistence on being laid to rest in this faraway land.
Praise for Santa Montefiore:
"Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore." JOJO MOYES
"An enchanting read, overflowing with deliciously poignant moments." DINAH JEFFRIES
"Santa Montefiore hits the spot for me like few other writers." SARRA MANNING
"One of our personal favourites." THE TIMES
International bestselling author Santa Montefiore continues the story of the Deverill family in the third book in her beautiful and moving Deverill Chronicles trilogy—perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Beatriz Williams.
“Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore. Everything she writes, she writes from the heart.” —Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You
1939: Peace has flourished since the Great War ended, but much has changed for the Deverill family as now a new generation is waiting in the wings to make their mark.
When Martha Wallace leaves her home in America to search for her birth mother in Dublin, she never imagines that she will completely lose her heart to the impossibly charming JP Deverill. But more surprises are in store for her after she discovers that her mother comes from the same place as JP, sealing her fate.
Bridie Doyle, now Countess di Marcantonio and mistress of Castle Deverill, is determined to make the castle she used to work in her home. But just as she begins to feel things are finally going her way, her flamboyant husband Cesare has other ideas. As his eye strays away from his wife, those close to the couple wonder if he really is who he says he is.
Kitty Deverill has come to accept her life with her husband Robert, and their two children. But then Jack O'Leary, the love of her life, returns to Ballinakelly. And this time his heart belongs elsewhere.
As long-held secrets come to light, the Deverills will have to heal old wounds and come to terms with the past if they hope to ensure their legacy for the future.
