Madeleine's War
  • Published: 15 July 2016
  • ISBN: 9781101873427
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $49.99

Madeleine's War

A Novel

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A sparkling novel from a renowned intellectual historian: Madeleine's War is a compulsively readable blend of romance and drama, based on actual events in Britain and France leading up to D-Day in 1944.

When Colonel Matthew Hammond was posted to the European theater during World War II, he sustained a serious injury on the front lines that cost him a lung. Now he is back in England, unable to fight, but continuing to serve his country by training new resistance fighters in SC2, a specialist sabotage outfit. One of the recruits under his tutelage is the spellbinding Madeleine Dirac, an exotic French-Canadian nurse. Despite protocols discouraging romance, they fall deeply in love.
        Matthew is torn about putting Madeleine’s life in danger: he has mixed duty and pleasure before, with tragic results—his former lover, Celestine, was killed in an attempt to assassinate a Nazi doctor. But the Allies are mustering all their resources for crucial beach landings in Normandy, and Matthew knows his unit will be needed to parachute its agents in behind Nazi lines. Vivid and unforgettable, Madeleine’s War is a gripping tale of love in wartime—and of men and women caught in the sweep of history.
  • Published: 15 July 2016
  • ISBN: 9781101873427
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $49.99
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About the author

Peter Watson

Peter Watson was educated at the universities of Durham, London and Rome. He has spent most of his life in newspapers, as a correspondent or an editor for the Sunday Times, The Times and the Observer, where he writes a weekly column on the art market. He has also written for the Spectator and is a contributor for the New York Times.

In 1983, after posing as an international art dealer, he exposed a ring of art theives and smugglers moving stolen paintings from Italy to America. His investigation resulted in four people being convicted. His account, The Carvaggio Conspiracy was awarded a Gold Dagger by the British Crime Writers' Association. It was dramatised by the BBC, and nominated for an 'Emmy'. He has since published four thrillers set in the art world.

Peter Watson lives in London and the south of France. His recreations are fishing, cricket and opera.

Praise for Madeleine's War

  • "Madeleine's War vibrates with the authenticity that only a master historian can provide. A well-told tale that will grip readers from start to finish." --Kate Alcott, New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmaker
  • "Thrilling.... Peter Watson brilliantly captures the tense months in England leading up to D-Day.... Madeleine's War is engaging on every level. I loved it." --Roxana Robinson, author of Sparta
  • "Watson's use of detail, down to the crinkle-free silk writing pads sewn into agents' clothes, heightens the atmosphere of intrigue.... [A] mix of romance and risk makes for a heady cocktail sure to be savored by historical-fiction readers." --Booklist

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