1940, England: ‘I will find you. Just leave me a message,’ he said, ‘here, in our secret garden, under the willow tree – telling me where you have gone.’ He pulled her to him, holding her so close he could feel her frantic heart beating, smell the fragrance of her hair and the flowers blooming all around them. But a real world lurked outside their walls of safety, and it was only a matter of time before they would have to pay the price for their secrets… While bombs fall in London, quiet, beautiful Annie arrives in a small village in Norfolk, at the same time as tall, blue-eyed Nick. Annie starts work as a land girl, and Nick is hired as a footman in the big house, where important men hold discussions about defeating the Nazis. It is impossible for Annie to ignore the spark between them. But they are both keeping a secret. One they can never tell. Because they did not come to the village coincidentally. They were both sent to the village as spies. And if anyone finds them out, they will be in the gravest danger. But then international allegiances shift, and so does everything for Annie and Nick. Finally able to be true to themselves, their love is given a chance to bloom. But, in war, nothing is safe; nothing is certain. And no one can ever discover the secrets of their past. So, they devise a plan. If they’re separated, they will find their way back to each other through secret, coded messages. Clues no one else could possibly understand. Starting with a tiny key, left in the place that has become most precious to them: the secret garden. Now, England: When Laura agrees to restore a beautiful garden in the grounds of an English stately home she sees the opportunity for a new start, away from heartbreak. But when she finds a box buried under the weeping willow tree, she is spellbound by its contents – a key and a cryptic note. As she begins to piece together the fragments of a love story that stretches across wartime Europe, Laura doesn’t realise it, but she is embarking on an unforgettable journey. One which will change her own life forever.
