Barbara Erskine

In the summer of 1940, the battle for Britain has just begun, and most eyes are focused on the Sussex skies. Selected as an official War Artist, documenting both the domestic and frontline experience, young Evie Lucas has a glittering career ahead of her, but smitten by dashing young pilot, Tony, she seems to be wasting her time sketching endless portraits of him.

Seventy years later, recently widowed art historian Lucy is trying to put the pieces of her life back together. And in order to do that, Lucy needs to uncover the mystery surrounding a painting in her home. But as she accidentally ends up stirring up a hornet’s nest of history which has been deliberately obliterated, Lucy finds herself in danger from people past and present who have no intention of letting an untold truth ever surface.

As the two women’s stories wend together in this epic time-slip novel, Lucy unearths the devastating reality of Evie Lucas’ life: a hopeless love triangle, a manipulative art dealer, brutal wartime sabotage and above all, the artist’s strength and tenacity to survive – and to paint – no matter what the cost.

An historian by training, Barbara Erskine is the author of twelve novels, at once demonstrating her interest in history and the supernatural, plus four collections of short stories. Her books have appeared in at least twenty-six languages. Barbara’s first novel, Lady of Hay, has sold over three million copies worldwide to date.