Imprint
- Orion
- Orion
Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), Historical fiction
For fans of Downton Abbey, Atonement and Birdsong - a compelling historical saga from popular TV historian Kate Williams.
'Brilliant - a passionate and poignant story of a glittering family on the precipice of a vanished world' Lisa Hilton
A family destroyed by war. A secret that could change everything.
Celia De Witt is half-German, half-English, and heir to her family's vast fortune. But as the glittering Twenties plunge into Depression, a shocking revelation sends her far from everything she knows.
Thrust headlong into the wealth and promise of New York, Celia sets out to rescue the family business - and to set in motion her own plans. The son she thought was dead, and the man she once loved, are both close at hand - but in opening the Pandora's Box of the past, what other secrets will she let loose...?
As the shadow of war darkens across Europe, Celia is determined to save those she loves, even if salvation comes at the highest price...
'A beautifully conjured family saga. Fans of Downton Abbey will love it' - Alison Weir
Praise for The House of Shadows
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This terrific saga comes with a fascinating twist ... Williams has a gift for showing how great movements in history affect the lives of people caught up in them - THE TIMES
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Williams keeps her story moving and the result is a vivid portrait of a perennially fascinating period of history - THE OBSERVER
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Downton fans will love the elegance, intrigue and drama of The House of Shadows. - YOURS MAGAZINE
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Brimming with a historian's knowledge and an author's human insight, Williams's trilogy has been an exciting and absorbing portrait of a world in flux, and a poignant fictional reflection on life in the opening decades of the 20th century. - LANCASHIRE TELEGRAPH
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A rocket of a historical novel. - THE LADY
Kate Williams
Kate Williams is an author, social historian and broadcaster. The Storms of War, her first novel in the De Witt trilogy, was widely acclaimed, reviewed as 'spellbinding, gripping and beautiful'. She has always wanted to travel in time and wrote her first novel when she was seven (The Adventures of Maria) - it was rather short.
Kate loves delving into archives, collections, diaries and letters. She has a DPhil from Oxford and is the author of the novel The Pleasures of Men and four historical biographies of Emma Hamilton, Queen Victoria, Elizabeth II and Empress Josephine - which is being made into a major TV series.
She is Professor of Public History at the University of Reading.
Kate is CNN's historian and royal expert, covers royal and national events on the BBC and other channels and regularly appears on other TV programmes, including BBC Breakfast, Restoration Home and The Great British Bake Off, discussing social and royal history, general politics and culture. She also loves quiz shows and is a regular on The Quizeum.
She is the resident historian on Frank Skinner's BBC Radio 4 panel show The Rest is History, and writes features, reviews and comment pieces for various newspapers and magazines, including the Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent and Observer.
Kate lives in London.
Find out more at www.kate-williams.com and follow her on Twitter @KateWilliamsme
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