It’s 1911 in Piedmont, Italy. Pietro has at last captured the melody of the harvest on his clarinet, but before he can share his music, a deadly disease sweeps through the countryside, forcing his family to burn their vineyard to stop its spread. The loss is too much for Pietro’s grandfather, and by morning, Pietro has lost two of the most precious things in life—his grandfather and the vineyard.
Adrift with grief, Pietro travels to America and takes a job in a Pennsylvania coal mine where his musician’s hands blister and his days are spent in silence until one day, the beautiful voice and gentle heart of his friend’s wife stirs a new song within him. As Pietro draws inspiration from Assunta, his gift for music returns. But when tragedy strikes and Pietro is to blame, he is forced to confront the consequences of his admiration for another man’s wife, all while fighting for the love he never thought he’d find.

A tale of love, deception, rivalry, intrigue and death, set along the desolate coasts of 18th century Suffolk, where ordinary folk struggle to make a living. Kate from Orford falls in love with a smuggler and has to keep him secret from her family. At the same time a respectable miller has come to court her but soon becomes entangled in a bitter rivalry for her affections. Set amongst the reed packed waterways, lonely shingle beaches and big skies of Suffolk, this is a tale of love and revenge, when the so called 'free traders' fought a constant battle with the Preventive service.

Saved by secret agent Phil Cullen from the house of ill-repute into which she’s been held against her will, Sophia Turner flees from her rescuer before he can learn her true identity.

To Sophia’s dismay, Phil turns up in her life again just as she has established herself as a lady’s companion. He is on the trail of an elusive and ruthless French spy. Despite knowing that Phil has the power to ruin her new-found contentment, Sophia instinctively turns to this gallant gentleman when an even deadlier threat to her life as a respectable spinster reappears. Is this a mistake she will come to regret?

It isn’t long before Sophia’s life becomes a perilous adventure, where smiling faces mask treachery and deceit. No one is as they seem, and danger lurks in unexpected places. Will helping Phil unmask his spy and solving the mystery of her own murky origins explain why she is being relentlessly pursued? By uncovering dark family secrets will Sophia destroy her chances of finding true love?

Singapore, 1939

Once a rising star of Singapore CID, Inspector Maximo Betancourt has been relegated to the Marine Division, with tedious dockyard disputes and goods inspections among his new duties. But when a beautiful, unidentified Japanese woman is found murdered in the shadow of a warehouse owned by one of Singapore's most powerful families, a distinctive tiger tattoo the only clue to her identity, Betancourt defies orders and pursues those responsible. What he discovers will bring him into conflict with powerful enemies, and force him to face his personal demons.

'Intricately plotted, thoroughly authentic and in Betancourt, a world-weary but witty and appealing protagonist, Waking the Tiger is a wonderfully accomplished debut. I felt transported back to the Singapore of the 1940s and I can't wait for the next one. Wightman is a writer we can expect great things of.' –Abir Mukherjee

What's a sensitive classical pianist doing in a sleazy WWII Parisian cabaret? Why is he keeping his Chopin sheet music inside the bench seat every night? Which two people from his past have scarred his soul forever?
Winter Pale, a young beautiful foreigner, a girl with a painful past of her own, recounts his story and, with it, delves deep into her own soul.

This short story, from the backstage of the award winning historical novel WINTER PALE, sheds light onto the character of Louis, the exceptional, poetic, and visionary pianist of 'The Golden Doe' club, and is a perfect standalone as well as an insightful complementary read to the main novel.

If you loved "The War in our Hearts", "Promise at Dawn", and "At Swim, Two Boys" you must read this deeply emotional, thought-provoking, and intriguing character revelation.

For 22-year-old Winter Pale, choices never were an option. Living in Paris, a British girl so far away from home, left her with very little, and, as if that were not enough, Paris is soon occupied by the German army. A time of struggle for survival; a time when love starts to bloom.
Winter’s heart is torn between two men, a French Resistance fighter and an SS major, both of which are definitely books not to be judged by their covers. They are mortal enemies, and Winter knows that if she chooses one side over the next, the consequences may be dire.
Where will her heart lie? As Winter’s expectations are subverted, making the choice that matters is getting harder and harder. The vicious circle of fault and guilt is closing in on her. Will she find the strength to break it?
A spiral down a path of conflict, despair and hope; a tale about choices and the empowering might of love.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the only First Lady to refuse to live in the White House. Separated from FDR, other women surrounded him. Daisy Suckley, a cousin and lover to Franklin Roosevelt, narrates the story of those presidential years, with an illuminating retelling of a seismic era. She records the friendships, the fights and the deals made in a secret sisterhood of those who influenced and assisted a disabled President in Eleanor's absence.

'A revelation. Justine Gilbert is a master storyteller.' Winner of the Historical Fiction Company's, American category, Silver Award 2022.

Events of the past can undo a lifetime of hope. Twenty years have passed since Maggie escaped the Irish Famine and settled with Jack in the North west of England. When Jack wishes to visit Ireland with their daughter, Hannah, Maggie is reluctant. She regrets the painful memories, but agrees to visit the country that once was home. Soon though the family becomes embroiled in the drama of the still troubled land and Maggie sees how history can repeat itself. Can she save her family as they stand to lose everything they've fought for?

Set in County Mayo during the Potato Famine of 1845, Maggie is a sixteen years old girl who must decide whether to stay in her homeland and face the hunger or take the offer of a place in the boat of a family who are emigrating. It is a rags to riches story and is a gripping tale.

It’s July 1943 and the world has been at war for almost four long years. One morning, young widow Emmy Penry-Jones discovers two men washed up on the beach below her house on the west coast of Cornwall. Emmy is used to rescuing washed-up sailors, the deadly Battle of the Atlantic exacting a heavy toll on shipping. But these men are not like the shipwrecked sailors she has rescued before and Emmy is soon drawn into a web of intrigue that will test both her ingenuity and her patriotism. Rocked by accusations of war crimes against a man she knows to be innocent, Emmy launches a bid to defend him, all too aware that the accusers could turn on her. But the trial marks a turning point and Emmy is drawn further into a deadly cycle of post-war retribution from which only one man can save her.

Monsieur Maurice is the manager of Le Prix d’Amour, one of the most successful cabarets in 1930s Paris. Sparkling showgirls and vibrant performers ensure that Le Prix has a devoted following and that Monsieur Le Prix’s Owner is a very rich man. But with the German invasion of 1940, Monsieur Maurice discovers that a number of his performers hide dark secrets that could see the entire company tossed into a Gestapo cell. With his ingenuity taxed to its limits, Maurice treads a fine line between the Germans, the French police and the resident informer, while dabbling in the black market and skimming profits from the occupiers. Secrets and Showgirls presents the occupation of Paris from a vastly different perspective, its colourful characters ranging from an alcoholic closet communist, sassy showgirls and a gorgeous female impersonator to a sensual dominatrice, vibrant beings who adapt, defy and finally take the fight to the invader as liberation beckons.

Escaping England after the Royalist defeat at Worcester in 1651, Adler Hayward and his friend Latimer Draye join the Fortier family bound for New Netherland. Heartbroken at leaving his home and family, Adler finds solace in the eyes of Glynneth Fortier, the wife of Etienne Fortier, who suffers from consumption. Though Adler loves Glynneth more than life itself, he is devoted to her husband, and he and Draye are protective of the Fortier family. To earn their living, Adler and Draye become woodsmen, trading with the Mohawks and sharing several near death adventures.

As they settle into their lives in New Netherland, Adler and Glynneth cannot help but wonder what destiny awaits them in their strange and challenging new world.

Endorsement by Curt Locklear, winner of the National Laramie Award 2019.
"If you yearn for a story skillfully told - if you like characters who find a home in your heart - if you enjoy historical accuracy blended with robust action, don't miss this book.