I am proud to introduce my novels and the children’s Royal Rabbits series which I write with my husband, Simon Sebag Montefiore. Since I could first hold a pencil I have been writing stories. It was my most enjoyable hobby and one I never expected would become a career in adulthood. I am so lucky to do something I adore and luckier still that you, my readers, enable me to do it. For that I am incredibly grateful.
Over the last four decades my love of storytelling has never changed, the only thing that has changed is my audience (once only me), which now includes you! I hope to carry you away to sunnier shores, while at the same time to remind you of all that is wonderful about England. Above all, my novels are about love – not just romantic love, but Love with a capital L, because when you boil life down to its essence, love is what you’ll find. I hope to sweep you away, to make you laugh and cry in equal measure, but most of all to make it possible for you to escape for a while.
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…
Paperback, out on the 27th April 2023
