For Jewish refugee Christina, recently married to commando Jack Robson, peacetime has brought its own special torment. She is convinced that her mother and grandmother have somehow escaped the terrors of the Holocaust and are alive. But her determination to find them causes her to put everything – even her marriage – at risk.
Also by Margaret Pemberton
Coronation Summer
It is early summer in 1953, and the friends and neighbours of Magnolia Square are looking forward to celebrating the coronation. The war has become a distant memory and the future seems rosy. Kate Emmerson looks on with pride at her growing family, including Matthew, whose father was killed during the war. But Matthew’s wealthy relations have never really forgiven Kate for marrying Leon, a West Indian who works as a Thames lighterman, and when Matthew runs away from his smart boarding school in Somerset the tensions which exist between the two families come to a head.
Meanwhile Zac, the wonderfully talented and handsome new signing at the local boxing club, is being eyed hopefully by all the young women of Magnolia Square. But he has eyes for only one – Carrie Collins, who has teenage children of her own and whose husband, Danny, seems more interested in the boxing club and his market stall than in her.
In the weeks leading up to the coronation, Magnolia Square is once again the centre of conflict and drama.
A Season of Secrets
Margaret Pemberton is the bestselling author of over thirty novels in many different genres, some of which are contemporary in setting and some historical.
She has served as Chairman of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and has three times served as a committee member of the Crime Writers’ Association. Born in Bradford, she is married to a Londoner, has five children and two dogs and lives in Whitstable, Kent. Apart from writing, her passions are tango, travel, English history and the English countryside.
Also by Margaret Pemberton
Rendezvous with Danger
The Mystery of Saligo Bay
Vengeance in the Sun
The Guilty Secret
Tapestry of Fear
African Enchantment
Flight to Verechenko
A Many-Splendoured Thing
Moonflower Madness
Forget-Me-Not Bride
Party in Peking
Devil’s Palace
Lion of Languedoc
Yorkshire Rose
The Flower Garden
Silver Shadows, Golden Dreams
Never Leave Me
A Multitude of Sins
White Christmas in Saigon
An Embarrassment of Riches
Zadruga
The Four of Us
The Londoners
Magnolia Square
Coronation Summer
Mega thanks are due to my publisher, Wayne Brookes, and to my editor, Catherine Richards, both of whom have been tremendously supportive and encouraging. Thanks are also due to the rest of the formidable Pan Macmillan team and I particularly want to thank copy-editor Mandy Greenfield and editorial manager Ali Blackburn. At Curtis Brown my agent, Sheila Crowley, has been as indefatigable – and as much fun – as always, and also to be thanked are Rebecca Ritchie and Katie McGowan. Thanks are due to many friends, not least Oliver Smith, for help with German.
First published 2015 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2015 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
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ISBN 978-1-4472-4866-8
Copyright © Margaret Pemberton 2015
Design © www.blacksheep-uk.com
Cover images © Shutterstock
The right of Margaret Pemberton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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