Light Behind The Window

Lucinda Riley was born in 1965 in Ireland and, after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first novel aged twenty-four. Her books have been translated into forty languages and continue to strike an emotional chord with cultures all around the world. The Seven Sisters series specifically has become a global phenomenon, creating its own genre, and there are plans to create a multi-season TV series.Her books have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Italian Bancarella Prize, the Lovely Books Award in Germany and the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. In 2020, she received the Dutch Platinum Award for sales over 300,000 copies for a single novel in one year – a prize last won by J. K. Rowling for Harry Potter.In collaboration with her son Harry Whittaker, she also devised and wrote the Guardian Angels series of books for children.Though she brought up her four children mostly in Norfolk, England, she fulfilled her dream in 2015 of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home, and this was where her last five books were written.Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died on 11 June 2021, surrounded by her family.

'A sweeping, engrossing work. Riley is talented, delighting in the small details of aristocratic luxury and the pastoral countryside ... The heroines of [The Light Behind the Window] struggle to master circumstances seemingly beyond their control, a common thread in Riley's work. A tale of family secrets, wartime espionage, and loyalties gained and gambled, The Lavender Garden will appeal to fans of historical fiction, Kate Morton, and Helen Bryan' Booklist 'A fast-paced, suspenseful story flitting between the present day and World War II ... Riley expertly weaves Emilie's story into a dual narrative ... A real old-fashioned romance which manages to have a compelling narrative as well as something of a history lesson in the Special Operations Executive. Brilliant escapism' Red 'Two superb storylines for the price of one here. In 1998 Emilie de la Martinieres inherits her grand South of France childhood home. She begins to uncover the past and finds a tiny room hidden in the wine cellar. Why has it been sealed for 50 years? As if that wasn't enough, there's also the part set in 1944. Constance Carruthers is sent to Paris as a spy, but loses her contact and falls in with an aristocratic family involved with the Resistance. Seriously, what could be more divine? Just sink in and wallow' Kate Saunders, Saga 'A beautifully written book that secures Riley's authorial status and proves that her golden penmanship is no mere fluke ... This is the perfect literary novel to move those readers who wish for something more fulfilling than chick-lit, yet just as entertaining, witty and heart-stopping. The language is dramatic yet truthful and Riley has such a delicate touch with mystery and intrigue that it's difficult to predict where the plot is going ... Riley's descriptive nuances are so evocative a TV drama is bound to be imminent. A literal and literary page-turner' WeLoveThisBook.co.uk