The Secret Years: An emotional drama of love and survival

A heartbreakingly romantic and unforgettable novel capturing the traumas of the First World War and the unbreakable bond of friendship.

A moving story about life in the East Anglian Fens after the First World War, evoking the emotions of the men who came through their ordeals and the women who survived the trauma of separation.

During the golden summer of 1914, four young people played in the gardens of Drakesden Abbey. Nicholas and Lally were the children of the great house, set in the bleak and magical Fen country; Thomasine was the unconventional niece of two genteel maiden aunts in the village; Daniel was the son of the local blacksmith, a fiercely independent, ambitious boy who longed to break away from the stifling confines of his East Anglian upbringing. As the drums of war sounded in the distance, the Firedrake, a mysterious and ancient Blythe family heirloom disappeared, setting off an uncontrollable chain of events.

The Great War changed everything, and both Nicholas and Daniel returned from the front damaged by their experiences. Thomasine, freed from the narrow disciplines of her childhood, and enjoying the new hedonism which the twenties brought, thought that she could escape from the ties that bound her to both Nicholas and Daniel. But the passions and enmities of their youth had intensified in the passing years, and the four friends had to experience tragedy and betrayal before the Firedrake made its reappearance and, with it, a new hope for the future.