The Lost English Girl is out in paperback now!
Read on for your chance to enter a spoiler-filled book club chat!
The paperback edition of my historical novel The Lost English Girl is out now in all major book retailers!
I mentioned last week that this book has my blood, sweat, and tears in it—and it’s also a book that I almost thought I wouldn’t be able to write. It felt like too much, and I wasn’t entirely certain I was brave enough to finish it let alone go through all of the edits necessary to get it into shape for readers. (Perhaps more on that in a future Substack post...)
I am so happy to say that all of my doubts were wrong, and I can say with confidence that it is a book I stand by and am immensely proud of.
Here is a look at the synopsis.
Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what’s expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous Jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. Her only solace is that marrying Joshua will mean escaping her strict mother’s scrutiny. But when Joshua makes a life-changing choice on their wedding day, Viv is forced once again into the arms of her disapproving family.
Five years later and on the eve of World War II, Viv is faced with the impossible choice to evacuate her young daughter, Maggie, to the countryside estate of the affluent Thompson family. In New York City, Joshua gives up his failing musical career to serve in the Royal Air Force, fight for his country, and try to piece together his feelings about the family, wife, and daughter he left behind at eighteen. However, tragedy strikes when Viv learns that the countryside safe haven she sent her daughter to wasn’t immune from the horrors of war. It is only years later, with Joshua’s help, that Viv learns the secrets of their shared past and what it will take to put a family back together again.
Telling the harrowing story of England’s many evacuated children, bestselling author Julia Kelly’s The Lost English Girl explores how one simple choice can change the course of a life, and what we are willing to forgive to find a way back to the ones we love and thought lost.
If you’re interested in picking up the paperback of The Lost English Girl—or the hardcover, ebook, or audiobook editions—you can find it at your local indie bookshop as well as all major book retailers:
Next month I’m also trying something different. Join me for a spoiler-filled YouTube live stream all about The Lost English Girl on February 7 at 4 p.m. ET! You’ll be able to comment along and ask plenty of questions while I talk about the making of this book live!
Click the button below to access the live stream and be sure to hit the “Notify Me” button to make sure you get reminders about when it is supposed to start.
Spoiler-filled discussions like this one are of the many new things that I’m going to be playing around with now that I’ve moved this newsletter from my old platform to Substack, so keep your eyes out for more updates like this one.
Until then, I hope you enjoy The Lost English Girl!
I bought it and adore it📚 💗