The Riviera Secret

Sarah Steele

THE lives of two troubled women from different timelines converge in an unforgettable tale of lost love and tragic secrets set against the stunning light and coastal beauty of the French Riviera.

From the glitz and glamour of the Cap d’Antibes in the wild days of the Twenties Jazz Age to the dark and dangerous build-up to the Second World War, one breathtaking cliff top mansion takes centre stage in a sunshine and drama-filled mystery that delights and dazzles from start to finish.

Written by bestselling author Sarah Steele (pictured below), who trained as a classical pianist and violinist, The Riviera Secret brings to breathtaking life the intrigue and excesses of the aristocracy and celebrities who flocked to the Côte d’Azur and partied their way through the inter-war years. Thrust into this glittering and garish world are British diplomat Lord Sinclair Castlemere, his young half-Jewish wife Daisy and their four-year-old son Milo who move into the spectacular white Château Violette – nestled into the pine-dusted, rocky coastline of the Cap d’Antibes – in the summer of 1938.

Sinclair, who is twenty years older than his wife and has been appointed as government envoy to Paris, believes the move to the Riviera will be beneficial for Daisy who suffered a devastating nervous breakdown after the stillbirth of their baby daughter and remains in fragile health.

But despite their magnificent home quickly becoming a beacon for the wild and wealthy expat set, the very intimate and deeply romantic touches inside Château Violette make Daisy feel like she is ‘living someone else’s life’ and she is haunted by a figure she constantly sees ‘in the shadows.’

The summertime gossip, meanwhile, centres mainly on their royal neighbours, the exiled Duke of Windsor and his wife Wallis Simpson, and everyone parties on, in denial about the grumblings across the border in Italy and refusing to acknowledge the menace of Hitler’s increasing expansionism.

But as Germany tightens its grip on Europe, Daisy digs into the history of Château Violette and discovers that the house holds a dark and unsettling past that could threaten her own future. And while she unravels the tragic secrets of the woman who commissioned the building of the chateau, war begins to rage across the continent, and soon, no one is safe… least of all Daisy with her Jewish heritage.

Rooted firmly in authentic history, and set against a stellar array of real-life big names like Winston and Clemmie Churchill, the exiled Windsors, composer Ivor Stravinsky and avant garde artist and film director Jean Cocteau, The Riviera Secret explores the human tribulations and tragedies that can tear lives apart, however happy and carefree they might appear to be.

Through her impressive research and emotional insight,  Steele immerses readers in a tumultuous age which veered from a cruel and destructive war, through the frenetic partying of the Twenties’ ‘beautiful set’, and on to a second, all-consuming conflict which brought fear, menace and danger to people from all walks of life, and in all corners of Europe.

And at a time when the evil of antisemitism is once more rearing its ugly head, the deadly threat posed to all those of Jewish ancestry becomes a visceral thread in the lives of the various inhabitants of the stunningly beautiful, but seemingly cursed, Château Violette.

Steele reminds us in her Author’s Note that the Côte d’Azur, with its sapphire blue sea and nearby snow-capped mountains, ‘holds some kind of magic’ and with its growing sense of unease, unexpected twists and turns, and a simmering, shimmering mystery at its core, this time-travelling trip to the eternally alluring Riviera really is this spring’s most magical read!
(Headline, paperback, £12.99)