Publication Date: October 16, 2025
The war set her free. His return would destroy everything…
London, 1941: When Frankie receives the telegram telling her that her husband Dickie is missing, presumed dead, she does not weep, or crumble. Instead, she feels a freedom that she’s not felt since her wedding day, the day her husband’s eyes didn’t light up when he saw her walk down the aisle. She wishes she could tell someone the truth about her marriage, but she is too ashamed to share the secrets hidden behind their black front door. Now she is free to live her life, even as the skies above London darken with enemy planes. She doesn’t think about what will happen if Dickie returns…
Present day: Charlotte is so happy to move into the tall London house with the black front door. She can’t wait to raise a family in their forever home, picturing a pram under the pear tree in the garden. But when she discovers a chest of drawers filled with unworn baby clothes, and learns that the house was left to a daughter who cannot be traced, she knows she needs to find out more about the old lady who lived in the house before them…
As Charlotte delves deeper into Frankie’s life, she finds out that she was hiding a shocking wartime secret. Can an old friend of Frankie’s help Charlotte solve the mystery that haunts her new home, and lay the ghosts of its sad past to rest?
An unforgettable World War Two novel about the dark secrets one woman was forced to keep. Fans of The Nightingale and The Alice Network will be utterly gripped by this unputdownable page-turner from bestselling author Suzanne Goldring.
Following an eventful career as a public relations consultant, specialising in business and travel, Suzanne Goldring turned to writing the kind of novels she likes to read, about the extraordinary lives of ordinary people. Whether she is working in her thatched cottage in Hampshire or her seaside home in North Cornwall, Suzanne finds inspiration in the secrets hidden by everyday life.
