The skylark's secret - Fiona Valpy

Loch Ewe, 1940. When gamekeeper's daughter Flora's remote highland village finds itself the base for the Royal Navy's Arctic convoys, life in her close-knit community changes forever. In defiance of his disapproving father, the laird's son falls in love with Flora, and as tensions build in their disrupted home, any chance of their happiness seems doomed.

Decades later, Flora's daughter, singer Lexie Gordon, is forced to return to the village and to the tiny cottage where she grew up. Having long ago escaped to the bright lights of the West End, London still never truly felt like home. Now back, with a daughter of her own, Lexie learns that her mother-and the hostile-seeming village itself-have long been hiding secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew.

As she pieces together the fragments of her parents' story, Lexie discovers the courageous, devastating sacrifices made in her name. It's too late to rekindle her relationship with her mother, but can Lexie find it in her heart to forgive the past, to grieve for all that's lost, and finally find her place in the world?

Fiona is an acclaimed, number 1 bestselling author, whose books have been translated into more than twenty languages worldwide. She draws inspiration from stories of strong women, especially during the years of World War II. Her meticulous historical research enriches her writing with an evocative sense of time and place.

Fiona spent seven years living in France, having moved there from the UK in 2007, before returning to live in Scotland. Her love for both of these countries, their people and their histories, has found its way into the books she's written.

"A wonderfully immersive novel about mothers and daughters, lovers and friends, set against a vivid and beautifully described Scottish setting. I loved it!" -Victoria Connelly, bestselling author of The Rose Girls

"Love, love, loved it. I love Scotland and history so it ticked lots of boxes. Brilliant story, I was completely immersed in it, so moving and touching too. The research needed must have been hard to do but it brought the war and the arctic convoys to life. I felt cold just reading about it." -Lesley Pearse, author of You'll Never See Me Again

"A moreish story of love, war, loss, and finding love again, set against an atmospheric Highlands backdrop." -Gill Paul, author of The Second Marriage