Publication Date: May 22, 2025
An impossible choice. Three generations of secrets. And an unbreakable promise.
France, 1944. In an opulent hotel room above the streets of Paris, a mother sobs and clutches her twin daughters tight. A German officer says, ‘Give me the emerald, and I will only take one of your children. The choice is yours.’
South of France, present day. Fleur arrives at a beautiful villa by the sparkling Mediterranean, devastated at the loss of her grandmother Nina. She has no other family. Why did Nina never tell her she owned this place? Then, tucked away in the villa, she finds a faded missing poster showing a little girl, blonde hair tied with red ribbons, holding a message: Do you know my twin sister?
The accompanying newspaper clippings about jewellery auctions throughout the years tell Fleur that answers lie in the replica emerald ring that Nina wore every day, now adorning her own finger.
Local gem expert Nicolas is the only one who can help find the truth. But as they uncover a heartbreaking story of a family torn apart by war, the pair face danger from an unexpected place. And Fleur must ask if her grandmother kept her secrets for a reason…
An absolutely devastating, epic and unforgettable read that will sweep you through the generations and whisk you away to the cobbled streets of Paris and the turquoise waters of the South of France. Anyone who loves Rhys Bowen, Fiona Valpy or Lucinda Riley will be utterly captivated.
A young woman mourning her grandmother unravels breathtaking secrets about her family tied to the Nazis.
Author Helen Fripp delivers a multi-layered story packed with emotion in The Emerald Twins. The plot unfolds through alternating narrators across 80 years.
Beginning in Nazi-occupied France in 1944, four-year-old identical twins, Nina and Odette, are forcibly separated by Nazi soldiers who claim ownership of them through the Lenensborn programme. It’s only through the quick thinking of the illustrious Coco Chanel, who offers up the famous Emerald Lake gem, that only Odette is taken away. Meanwhile, Nina is given a replica of the original ring and told it will eventually lead her back to her sister.
Their story comes to light when Fleur inherits a house in France. There, she finds clues regarding a hidden part of her grandmother’s life. Facing difficult choices of her own, Fleur embarks on a fact-finding mission full of hope and determination.
Central to the story is how the Emerald Lake serves as a beacon throughout the years. While there are plenty of opportunities for tears, the author weaves a beautiful conclusion to bring the story full circle.
The Emerald Twins offers a story of twins separated by the Nazis and their struggle to reunite.
Helen Fripp is fascinated by history and by women who have made their mark against all the odds. To her, the past really is another country, where the architecture, art and customs of the time are sumptuously and lyrically evoked and where her female characters rail against the social constraints to which they are subject. Epic in scope, but human in scale, the motivations, flaws, loves and everyday lives of her characters are what Helen loves to imagine and create, against sweeping historical backdrops.
