Buchan, Elizabeth – The Bell Bookshop

Bonjour, Sophie

Emma — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

‘Vividly conjures the excitement of Paris’ RUTH HOGAN, bestselling author of THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS’Beguiling’ The TimesCan she escape the darkness of her past in the City of Light?It’s 1959 and time for eighteen-year-old Sophie’s real life to start. Her existence in the village of Poynsdean, Sussex, with her austere foster-father and his frustrated wife is suffocating. She dreams of escape to Paris, the wartime home her French mother fled before her birth. Getting there will take spirit and ingenuity, but it will be her chance to uncover the mystery of her family background, and, perhaps, to find a place where she can finally belong.When Sophie eventually arrives in the Paris arising from the ashes of the war, it’s both everything she imagined, and not at all what she expected…’Original, page turning, wonderful. I loved it.’ KATIE FFORDE’A delightful, funny, poignant story suffused with the atmosphere of Paris on the cusp of the Sixties’ RACHEL HORE

Light of the Moon

Emma — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I thought loving someone was simple. It isn’t. Glorious, yes. Painful, yes. Unforgettable, yes. Simple, no. It took me the war to find out… Evelyn St. John has been parachuted into France to link up with the Resistance and to work undercover. Paul von Hoch’s brief, as a member of the German Intelligence, is to track down enemy spies. When Evelyn and Paul meet and fall in love, their feelings for one another are fierce, but can never be uncomplicated. And when the battle lines shift, and patriotism gives way to deeper truths, they will both face the gravest of challenges.

Consider the Lily

Emma — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0000

When a choice must be made between love and duty, solace comes in unexpected forms… Summer, 1929. The Hinton Dysart estate is dying from lack of money, and Kit Dysart, the heir, sees no way out. Then, at his sister’s wedding, he meets the vibrant Daisy Chudleigh and her cousin, the heiress Matty Verrall. In love with Daisy but troubled by his family’s decline, Kit chooses to marry Matty, though neither Kit nor Daisy is able to forget the other. When Matty, growing increasingly unhappy in her troubled, empty marriage, decides to re-create the estate’s garden, she discovers solace and a gift of which she never dreamt. A haunting, passionate story played out between three people, Consider the Lily is also a poignant and beautiful novel of England between the wars that propels the reader into its own rich and nostalgic world.

Two Women in Rome

Emma — Thu, 12 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A beautifully atmospheric new tale from the prize-winning, bestselling novelist Elizabeth Buchan.In the Eternal City, no secret stays hidden forever…Lottie Archer arrives in Rome excited newly married and ready for change as she takes up a job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about the woman who left it behind, Nina Lawrence. Nina seems to have led a rewarding and useful life, restoring Italian gardens to their full glory following the destruction of World War Two. So why did no one attend her funeral in 1978? In exploring Nina’s past, Lottie unravels a tragic love story beset by the political turmoil of post-war Italy. And as she edges closer to understanding Nina, and the city draws her deeper into its life, she is brought up against a past which will come to shape her own future. Praise for Elizabeth Buchan:’It’s a gem of a book… Beautiful, elegant.’ Marian Keyes’Intricately plotted and beautifully written.’ Katie Fforde’An amazing, emotive, heartbreaking but also ultimately uplifting novel. I really loved it.’ Laura Barnett

Two Women in Rome

Emma — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

A beautifully atmospheric new tale from the prize-winning, bestselling novelist Elizabeth Buchan.In the Eternal City, no secret stays hidden forever…Lottie Archer arrives in Rome excited to begin her new job as an archivist. When she discovers a valuable fifteenth-century painting, she is drawn to find out more about the woman who left it behind, Nina Lawrence.Nina seems to have led a rewarding and useful life, restoring Italian gardens to their full glory following the destruction of World War Two. So why did no one attend her funeral in 1978? In exploring Nina’s past, Lottie unravels a tragic love story beset by the political turmoil of post-war Italy. And as she edges closer to understanding Nina, she begins to confront the losses in her own life.Praise for Elizabeth Buchan:’It’s a gem of a book… Beautiful, elegant.’ Marian Keyes’Intricately plotted and beautifully written.’ Katie Fforde’An amazing, emotive, heartbreaking but also ultimately uplifting novel. I really loved it.’ Laura Barnett