I am the son of a pacifist poet and a Marine veteran of Vietnam. Perhaps because of this contradiction, I’ve been unable to find any occupation satisfying outside of writing. I spent my formative years with imaginary friends I met in libraries. My love of faraway places, romance, and war continues to this day. I write stories of strangers meeting under bleak conditions and finding the strength in each other to win the day.
I have always loved libraries. This novel takes place in 1940s Barcelona, a place of danger, romance, and memories that linger like ghosts. There’s a hidden library, a lost author, and a touch of romance, all set during the dangerous aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. What more could I want?
"The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero." -Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice)
"One gorgeous read." -Stephen King
Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been…
Related to my love of libraries is my adoration for codes and puzzles and secretive things. This novel is a fictionalized account of World War II codebreakers who race against the clock to break an unbreakable Nazi cipher. The hero’s life is complicated by the arrival of a beautiful MI5 officer...
It is 1943, and a team of cryptanalysts led by Tom Jericho have broken the Enigma code of Hitler's U-boats. But inside the code-breaking centre, a woman disappears and authorities suspect the presence of a traitor, it is only when Jericho himself falls under suspicion that he must unmask the spy.
The Model Spy is based on the true story of Toto Koopman, who spied for the Allies and Italian Resistance during World War II.
Largely unknown today, Toto was arguably the first woman to spy for the British Intelligence Service. Operating in the hotbed of Mussolini's Italy, she courted danger…
Sometimes romance is even more romantic when it’s tragic. Another story set against real events of WWII, this story is a classic cat-and-mouse that attributes the outcome of the war to a single, accidental event: love. Well-researched and brilliantly describe, this is a setting that cleverly weaves the fictional with the real.
The worldwide phenomenon from the bestselling author of The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, A Column of Fire, and The Evening and the Morning
His code name was "The Needle." He was a German aristocrat of extraordinary intelligence-a master spy with a legacy of violence in his blood, and the object of the most desperate manhunt in history. . . .
But his fate lay in the hands of a young and vulnerable English woman, whose loyalty, if swayed, would assure his freedom-and win the war for the Nazis. . . .
If you like intrigue, then welcome to Venice in 1938. This novel features a likable heroine in search of the solution to a mystery contained in a sketchbook. It’s full of art—both real and metaphorical. Set against the backdrop of impending war, this one is full of courage and heart.
"Rhys Bowen crafts a propulsive, unexpected plot with characters who come vibrantly alive on the page." -Mark Sullivan, author of Beneath a Scarlet Sky
Love and secrets collide in Venice during WWII in an enthralling novel of brief encounters and lasting romance by the New York Times bestselling author of The Tuscan Child and Above the Bay of Angels.
Caroline Grant is struggling to accept the end of her marriage when she receives an unexpected bequest. Her beloved great-aunt Lettie leaves her a sketchbook, three keys, and a final whisper...Venice. Caroline's quest: to scatter Juliet "Lettie" Browning's ashes in the…
In ancient Rome, sensible women don’t investigate murders, but Livia Aemilia’s father is dead, and her innocent brother has been accused of the crime. What’s a girl to do? Find the criminal herself, obviously.
Livia and her spunky maidservant pound the ancient Roman pavements in search of the killer, with…
Almost defying description, this novella is both historical and science fiction. Written as a series of back-and-forth letters between two people falling in love from afar, it explores the themes of conflict, control, and hopeful defiance. It never explains itself, but invites the reader to realize that love is more powerful than war. It is beautifully written and surprisingly unique.
WINNER OF The Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella, the Reddit Stabby Award for Best Novella AND The British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novella
SHORTLISTED FOR 2020 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award The Ray Bradbury Prize Kitschies Red Tentacle Award Kitschies Inky Tentacle Brave New Words Award
'A fireworks display from two very talented storytellers' Madeline Miller, author of Circe
Co-written by two award-winning writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It…
Ellenor Jantz lives in rural Germany in 1917, the Great War raging only a few miles from where she works as a beekeeper for a wealthy loyalist. When a British airman crashes behind enemy lines, Ellenor must choose between aiding him or handing him over to the German authorities.
Alec Corbin-Dawes, Royal Flying Corps, is the injured pilot who finds himself at Ellenor’s mercy. Against her better judgment, Ellenor hides Alec from the Germans and agrees to help him steal a plane so he can resume his journey. On the night of the theft, Ellenor’s only hope for survival is to leap into the biplane’s observer seat and take to the sky...
Wed in an arranged marriage to a man nearly fifty years her senior, sixteen-year-old Eileen O'Connell goes from being one of five unmarried sisters to becoming the mistress of Ballyhar, the great estate of John O'Connor, one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Ireland.
Buried Secrets. A web of deceit, betrayal, and danger. Can she survive her fight for justice and truth? Laura thought she knew everything about her late husband before he died. Now, her life and the lives of those she loves are in danger. As Laura delves into his previous role…
