“Bittersweet perfection.” The Guardian (UK)
Description
A beautiful, bittersweet WWI romance lights up an English village at Christmas with harrowing secrets, love lost and found, and the breathtaking power of forgiveness.
Vivid and achingly real, Sally Nicholls’s latest historical romance explores the fallout from an unexpected pregnancy during the First World War. It’s Christmastime, 1919. Three years before, seventeen-year-old Margot Allan, a respectable vicar’s daughter, fell passionately in love. But she lost her fiancé, Harry, to the Great War. In turn, she gained a desperate secret, one with the power to ruin her life and her family’s reputation, a secret she guards at all costs. Now Margot’s family is gathering at the vicarage for the first time since the War ended. And Harry, it turns out, isn’t dead. He’s alive and well, and looking for answers. Can their love survive the truth? Based on the author’s family history, this evocative and stirring exploration of the human and emotional side of war is young-adult historical fiction at its finest, written with the immediacy and understanding of the complexities of the human heart that are the hallmark of the author’s work.
Praise
“Bittersweet perfection.” The Guardian (UK)
“Sally Nicholls conjures another era with a miraculous lightness of touch that fills me with joy and envy. Her characters don’t just leap off the page; they grab you by the collar, demand your sympathy, and surprise you at every turn.” Frances Hardinge, author of The Lie Tree
“A gorgeous, poignant, unputdownable new Christmas classic.” Hilary McKay, author of The Skylarks’ War
“A festive treat of a story about family, lost loves, and finding yourself again after tragedy.” Emma Carroll, author of In Darkling Wood
Details
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Release Day | Sep 19, 2022 |
| Release Date | September 20, 2022 |
| Release Date Machine | 1663632000 |
| Imprint | Blackstone Publishing |
| Provider | Blackstone Publishing |
| Categories | Teen & Young Adult, Romance, Politics, Society & Current Events, History & Culture, Children/YA, YA, Fiction - All, Fiction - Child |
Author Bio
Sally Nicholls has wanted to write for as far back as she remembers. As a child, she loved reading authors such as Noel Streatfeild, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Isaac Asimov. She wrote Ways to Live Forever while getting a Masters degree at the University of Bath Spa, where she won the award for “writer with the most potential.” After she finished school, she worked in a Red Cross in Japan, and traveled through out Australia and New Zealand. Currently, she spends three days a week as an administrator for a charity. She devotes the rest of her time to writing. Instead of coming up with a finished story concept, Sally says that she envisions scenes, then makes up characters, situations, and locations. She pulls these together as she thinks of them, and when she thinks she’s written all of the scenes that should be in the book, she reorganizes them so that they better flow with the story she wants to tell. Sally Nicholls lives in London, England.
Narrator Bio
Elizabeth Knowelden is an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator who has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. As an actress, she trained in London at the Webber Douglas Academy where she received a Sir Laurence Olivier Commendation. Her acting credits include theater, musicals, and national tours in the United Kingdom. Also a film actress, she has participated in BAFTA’s Newcomers Program.
Overview
A beautiful, bittersweet WWI romance lights up an English village at Christmas with harrowing secrets, love lost and found, and the breathtaking power of forgiveness.
Vivid and achingly real, Sally Nicholls’s latest historical romance explores the fallout from an unexpected pregnancy during the First World War. It’s Christmastime, 1919. Three years before, seventeen-year-old Margot Allan, a respectable vicar’s daughter, fell passionately in love. But she lost her fiancé, Harry, to the Great War. In turn, she gained a desperate secret, one with the power to ruin her life and her family’s reputation, a secret she guards at all costs. Now Margot’s family is gathering at the vicarage for the first time since the War ended. And Harry, it turns out, isn’t dead. He’s alive and well, and looking for answers. Can their love survive the truth? Based on the author’s family history, this evocative and stirring exploration of the human and emotional side of war is young-adult historical fiction at its finest, written with the immediacy and understanding of the complexities of the human heart that are the hallmark of the author’s work.
Reviews
Write Your Own Review