Fate has brought them together. Will time tear them apart?
✨✨✨
2025
Named after a star, war correspondent Maia knows how to find the brightest stories - the tales of survival and strength - hidden amongst the dark realities of combat.
Now, travelling to Malta to visit her estranged father, with one more chance to build a relationship with her last remaining relative, she's here to find her own story: never having found somewhere - or someone - she can call home, she's desperate for answers that might show her where she truly belongs.
But when she arrives on the beautiful mediterranean island, she realises her long-lost family is full of more secrets than she could possibly have imagined. . .
✨✨✨
1942
Maia wakes up to find herself on an island under siege, a city in ruins - and knows she must have been sent here for a reason.
Who has she been sent to save? Or is it Maia herself that needs saving? And just when she's finally found what she's been seeking . . . will time separate them forever?
.png)
I've been reading Rowan Coleman's novels for many years now. I'm a huge fan, I also love her work as Bella Ellis - she's a superb writer, no matter the subject matter, she brings her characters to life and makes the settings perfect too.
This one is set on the island of Malta - a place that I've visited and very much enjoyed. Maia is a journalist, covering wars. She has travelled to Malta to visit her estranged father, to try to mend their relationship and find out more about herself and her family. Maia and her father argue when they are out in the car and there's an accident.
Maia wakes up in hospital, but there's something not quite right about her surroundings. She realises that she's woken in 1942 during the siege of Malta. The island is unrecognisable, bombed and in ruins. Maia knows that she's there for a reason, but what? Add attractive Canadian pilot Danny into the mix and you have a heady story of history, romance and family relationships.
This is just wonderful. Coleman's trademark magical, evocative writing makes this such an immersive read. Despite the time hopping, this feels so real, so magical and so wonderfully researched. The beauty of Malta and its people shines through. It is so life affirming and an utter joy to discover.
.png)
author of fifteen novels including the Richard & Judy bookclub choice, The Memory Book, the Zoë Ball ITV bookclub pick, The Summer of Impossible Things and The Girl at the Window.
.jpg)
.jpg)