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  • Published: 11 August 2016
  • ISBN: 9781405918213
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464

The New Mrs Clifton




In post-war London the enemy is brought under the roof of a British family

As the Second World War draws to a close, Gus Clifton, feared lost in Germany, surprises his sisters at their family home. But an even greater shock is the woman he brings home, Krista - the German wife whom he has married secretly in Berlin.

Gus's sisters can only see the enemy their brother has brought under their roof. And their friend Nella, Gus's beautiful, loyal fiancée, cannot understand what made Gus change his mind about their marriage. What hold does Krista have over their honourable and upright Gus? And how can the three women get her out of their home, their future, their England?

  • Published: 11 August 2016
  • ISBN: 9781405918213
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464

About the author

Elizabeth Buchan

Elizabeth Buchan lives in London with her husband and two children and worked in publishing for several years. During this time, she wrote her first books, which included a biography for children: Beatrix Potter: The Story of the Creator of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne). Her first novel for adults, Daughters of the Storm, was set during the French Revolution. Her second, Light of the Moon, took as its subject a female undercover agent operating in occupied France during the Second World War. Her third novel, Consider the Lily, described by the Sunday Times as 'the literary equivalent of the English country garden' and by the Independent as 'a gorgeously well-written tale: funny, sad, sophisticated', won the 1994 Romantic Novel of the Year Award. An international bestseller, there are over 320,000 copies in print in the UK. Her subsequent novel, Perfect Love, was described as 'a powerful story: wise, observant, deeply-felt, with elements that all women will recognize with a smile - or a shudder'. Against Her Nature, published in 1998, was described as 'a modern day Vanity Fair . . . brilliantly done', and Secrets of the Heart was praised by the Mail on Sunday as 'a finely written, highly intelligent romance, without any of the slushiness usually associated with the genre'. Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman has been described by The Times as 'Wise, melancholy, funny and sophisticated . . .' Her most recent novel is The Good Wife.

Also by Elizabeth Buchan

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Praise for The New Mrs Clifton

At the close of the Second World War, Intelligence Officer Gus Clifton returns to London. On his arm is Krista, the German wife he married secretly in Berlin. For his sisters, this broken woman is nothing more than the enemy . . .

from the publisher's description

A truly wonderful writer. Her books are rich with authentic period detail and her characters are vivid and intensely believable - I love this book

Peter James

Impressive . . . nerve-janglingly engrossing . . . Buchan brings the period vividly to life

Sunday Times

I loved The New Mrs Clifton by Elizabeth Buchan, a story of post-war adjustment which sets up a mystery on the first page

Cathy Rentzenbrink, Stylist

When their brother brings home a German bride in the wake of the Second World War, two sisters wonder what hold she has over him in the elegantly written The New Mrs Clifton

Good Housekeeping

Compassionate and gripping

Fanny Blake, Woman and Home

This compelling novel deals with the complex legacy of the war years ... Buchan, who brilliantly captures the blighted atmosphere of blitzed London and bomb-destroyed Berlin, is equally good on the emotional fall-out ... Slowly revealing the hidden secrets and chaos of the characters' inner lives, the novel describes how everyday life is tainted by the knowledge of what went on and the desperate measures that ordinary people had to take to survive the extraordinary circumstances

Daily Mail

The tension is palpable and the atmosphere claustrophobic. Buchan vividly conveys the dispirited mood of a post-war London brought to its knees ... Her depiction of the horrors of wartime Berlin is equally compelling. She dissects her characters with precision to show the personal cost of war ... A powerful and emotional read

FIVE STARS, Sunday Express

So so good. Great writing, great story. I could not put it down

Internationally bestselling author, Marian Keyes

With such a vivid, thought-provoking evocation of life in ravaged, post-war London, there's plenty to enjoy

Irish Sunday Independent

A wonderful book about life in post-war London ... Buchan's believable characters live in a world of bombsites, shortages and speculators that is deftly realised

The Times

Buchan vividly captures weary postwar Britain in this evocative, emotional novel

Daily Express