Woman in the Sable Coat

About the book

From the acclaimed author of The Orphan of Salt Winds, The Whispering House, and The House in the Orchard comes a passionate and fateful story of love, betrayal, and the rewards-and costs-of following your heart.

At the height of the Second World War in England, twenty-two year old Nina Woodrow joins the British Royal Air Force and rebels against her careful upbringing by embarking on an illicit affair with an officer. She risks losing everything for Guy Nicholson: her comfortable home, her childhood friends, and, especially, the love of her father, an enigmatic widower.

Meanwhile, in the sleepy village where Nina grew up, where the upheavals of war seem far away and divorce remains taboo, Kate Nicholson struggles to cope with her new role as the wronged wife. She finds an unlikely confidant in Nina’s father, Henry, and as they grow closer Kate finds that she's embroiled in something much murkier, and more menacing, than a straightforward friendship.

Sweeping and impassioned, with pitch-perfect period detail, Elizabeth Brooks’ The Woman in the Sable Coat tells the story of two families fatally entangled in one another’s deepest, darkest secrets.

Praise for this book:

"Reading Elizabeth Brooks's new novel The Woman in the Sable Coat feels like stepping into an alternate version of I Capture the Castle written by Patricia Highsmith and filmed by Alfred Hitchcock. A mesmerizing, psychologically complex story about two women who meet at an impromptu dinner party in the 1930s English countryside-an encounter that sets off a decade of secrets and betrayals--only to discover their dreams of romance might be the greatest self-betrayal of all. From quaint village life and a war-time RAF airbase, to the snowy wilds of Canada and a storm-tossed ocean liner, The Woman in the Sable Coat spins a literary tale full of penetrating detail, enigmatic characters, and delicious plot twists. Not since Atonement have I read a book so unexpected in its telling, or its power." - Natalie Jenner

"A beautifully written evocation of young girls coming-of-age, and plunging into womanhood and war, which gradually intensifies into a gothic unease that would make Daphne Du Maurier proud. Excellent-I could not put it down." - Helen Simonson