Although December is mainly going to be about Christmas on the blog, it's my pleasure to welcome author Tessa Harris to talk about her latest book The Light We Left Behind which is published today.
I wrote my first story on a piece of wallpaper when I was just four years old and, after reading History at Oxford, I became a journalist and editor. All the while, however, I wanted to write novels, which I did in my spare time. Finally, after penning five novels and receiving dozens of rejections over the course of thirty years, my debut, The Anatomist’s Apprentice, was published in 2012. It won the Romantic Times Best First Mystery 2012 award. Now I have eleven historical novels - set between the late 18th century and World War 2 - to my name.
If you had to give an elevator pitch for your latest book, The Light We Left Behind, what would it be?
It’s a love story between a young psychologist, Maddie, and a German Jewish émigré, Max, who work in Trent Park, a luxury POW camp for German generals there their every word is secretly taped. The problem is when the walls have ears, who can you trust? There’s a traitor in the mansion and both Maddie and Max risk everything to flush them out.
Having signed the official secrets act, she soon finds captured Nazi generals are being detained at the house. Bugged with listening devices in every room, it’s up to Maddie to gain the Nazis’ trust and coax them into giving up information.
When Max Weitzler, a Jewish refugee, also arrives at Trent Park with the same mission, Maddie finds herself trapped in a dangerous game of chess.
The two met in Germany before the war, and Maddie’s heart was his from the moment they locked eyes. The hope that Max had escaped the Nazi threat was her guiding light in the darkness of war.
But Maddie has finally gained the trust of the Nazi officers at the house, and her love for Max must remain a secret.
As Hitler’s bombs destroy more and more English towns, it is up to Maddie to make one of the captured officers talk – at any cost.
But when there’s a shocking death at the mansion, Maddie realises that not everyone at Trent Park is on the same side.
When the walls have ears, who can you trust?
