SHORTLISTED FOR THE WINSTON GRAHAM PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020
SET IN BEAUTIFUL CORNWALL, THE PROMISE IS A HAUNTING NOVEL OF LOVE, WAR AND DARK SECRETS.

No matter what promises you make, some dark secrets refuse to stay buried...

shortlisted for the Winston Graham Prize for Fiction 2020

In windswept and beautiful 1940s Cornwall, love, war, and dark secrets collide in a heart-wrenching story that stays with you long after the last page is turned.

When Nell Summers discovers a faded photograph of a young soldier among her late father’s belongings, she is soon caught in a web of mystery that changes everything she thought she knew. Desperate for answers, she journeys to Cornwall where the remains of a neglected garden and crumbling World War II fortifications hint at a past buried in shadows but closer enough to touch. But the truth Nell uncovers is more devastating and far darker than she could ever imagine.

In the chaos of wartime, American GIs flood into Cornwall, bringing with them excitement and danger. Amidst the turmoil, Estella Kellow, a young woman with a heart full of forbidden hope, falls in love with a young man she is forbidden from associating with. The American army and her own family are quick to condemn their romance, but passion blinds Estella to the consequences and she refuses to give in to threats. The promise made in the heat of love will reverberate through generations, concealing a secret too dangerous and too painful to reveal.

A spellbinding tale of love, loss, and the unbreakable weight of family secrets, The Promise is an emotional journey that will grips from the first page and never lets go. Can Nell find redemption in the truth, or will the legacy of the past crush her future beneath its weight?

What Amazon readers and reviewers are saying about The Promise

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Priced low to introduce you to a great series of books. Arrows fly, swords clash, nobles and church men are gulled out of their coins, and the French and Venetians are successfully blamed for things they did not do. This is the first book in Martin Archer's exciting and action-packed saga of Cornwall's Company of Archers at the dawn of Britain’s military supremacy and the beginning of its great merchant companies. It is an enjoyable and sometimes witty read that sticks pins into the church and nobility along the way. The on-going saga of the Company of Archers is set in dangerous and gritty feudal England during a time when there was great upheaval in Britain as the barons rose against the king, the Saracens were lashing out against the Christians for breaking a truce, and Islamic pirates from the Barbary Coast were fighting for control of the Mediterranean. This is British and English historical fiction at its action-packed best. It will appeal to readers who enjoy books such as The Game of Thrones and authors such as Bernard Cornwell, Jeffrey Archer, C.S. Forester, Griff Hosker, Peter Darman, and Jerry Auteri. This exciting novel is not politically correct. It is, however, a very good read. The next book in the continuing saga is "The Archers' Castle." It is followed by "The Archers' Return" and more exciting tales as this great Medieval Times saga continues. The entire first six books of the saga are collected in one great Amazon eBook as "The Archers' Story." The next four novels after that are collected in "The Archers' Story: Part II." And there are even more. They will delight the fans of Bernard Cornwell, Jerry Auteri, C.S. Forester's Hornblower, and George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman.