A Reading Guide to Claire Lorrimer’s bestselling romance novels

Here’s a reading guide to four of bestselling romance author Claire Lorrimer’s most beloved novels, and a fifth novel, Georgia, which is available now for the first time in paperback and ebook. Full of drama, passion, love and war, Claire’s gorgeous novels feature sweeping historical settings, exotic, glamorous locations, and passionate, fiery heroes and heroines.

Georgia

This epic and deeply moving wartime novel has never been published as a paperback edition before; it’ll be available for the first time in paperback and ebook from Hodder. In these pages we meet Georgia, a young, wilful girl determined to find out who she really is, and what her place is in the world. Headstrong and feisty, Georgia struggles to fit in amongst her adoptive family. It is only when she uncovers the extraordinary story of her great-great-grandmother Chantal that she is able to reconcile herself to her adoption and grow into the young woman she was always supposed to be: resourceful, intelligent and passionate.

But Georgia has grown up in the eventful years between the two wars, and enormous disruption lies in her future. Great changes are taking place in Europe and Georgia finds herself inextricably involved in the rising horrors of Nazi Germany. Claire Lorrimer skilfully presents a sweeping panorama of the horror of the Second World War and, as history unfolds, Georgia finds herself in terrible danger.

Frost in the Sun

Claire Lorrimer takes us to the heat and passion of war-torn Spain in this gripping historical tale of friendship and love.

Casilda Montero is the beautiful and hot-blooded daughter of a wealthy Spanish aristocrat. Sent from the family hacienda in Southern Spain to an English boarding school, she befriends Joscelin Howard, a shy, serious English girl, and their enduring friendship becomes the one constant in both their lives. As the dramatic events of the 1930s unfold and Europe explodes into fascism and civil war, Cassy and Joscelin, and the two men who come to love them, are swept into daring, complex passions.

From the carefree glamour of London high society to the devastation of the battlefields in Spain, Casilda, Joscelin and their families are tragically linked by love and bloodshed.

Ortolans

Fans of Downton Abbey will love this riveting, sweeping saga about a magnificent stately home. Housing three generations of women, Ortolans is a house which has witnessed countless scenes of love, passion and betrayal. It holds a mysterious grip on all those who live in it, and hides a secret which has lain undiscovered for four hundred years.

Three passionate, remarkable women play a vital part in the long, violent history of the house. In the 18th Century there is Eleanor, forced into an unhappy marriage with a ruthless adventurer plotting to take over the property. In the 19th Century there is hot-headed Sophia, prepared to risk everything to save it. And in the 20th Century there is Emma, who loves Ortolans but refuses to sacrifice her career for its sake, even if it means letting it fall into ruins.

But, just when it seems all is lost, the house finally gives up its incredible secret…

The Silver Link

In The Silver Link, Claire Lorrimer uses her talent for writing beautifully and evocatively about different periods in history to take us back to England and France in the 1700s. Until her father’s death, Adela Carstairs lives in a secure and loving home. Then her mother remarries a cruel and hard-drinking man, and any happiness Adela has left is shattered. With her younger brother and sister, Adela is forced to flee her new stepfather’s drunken rages. They escape to London where they seek refuge in the squalor of the back streets. Addie’s desperate hope is that her childhood companions, the handsome Mallory twins Titus and Barnaby, will find and rescue them.

Turbulent times lie ahead, and all three siblings find themselves caught up in the danger and terror of revolutionary France. It is then that the link between the twins — and Addie’s growing love for one of them — is truly put to the test. This is a stunning tale of family, passion and love.

Last Year’s Nightingale

In Last Year’s Nightingale, Claire Lorrimer gives us a brilliant, feisty heroine in Clementine Foster, who is prepared to fight against the man who threatens to destroy her family.

Clementine is young, innocent, and wildly in love with Deveril — a man who doesn’t even know she exists. When, one golden summer night, she steps in front of his horse, he takes her with all the drunken arrogance of a young aristocrat used to having whatever he wants. The repercussions of doing so are to create bonds of hate, love, and tragedy in both their lives.

Clementine bears a son to Deveril as a result of their reckless night — and, according to the law, he has the right to take the child from her if he so chooses. What he doesn’t realise is that Clementine is prepared to fight for her son…whatever the cost.