Lexi Gordon reluctantly returns home to Loch Ewe in the Scottish Highlands following the death of her mother Flora. Her career as a rising West End musical star is over following the loss of her voice and a failed relationship. However, she has the compensation of a beautiful baby daughter in Daisy. The story is told in alternating timelines by Lexie in 1980 and by Flora from 1939 with the outbreak of World War 2, tells the story of her love affair with lairds son Alec MacKenzie-Grant. It weaves in the historic importance of a Loch Ewe as a naval base for the Home Fleet and for the Atlantic and Arctic Convoys.

I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. I’m always drawn to books set in Scotland but had a personal reason for wanting to read it as my father was in the navy and spent a brief time in Loch Ewe before heading to Scapa Flow and elsewhere. As well as being totally transfixed and transported by the storytelling I learned so much too! It’s beautifully written, the mother daughter alternating stories works really well and it flows effortlessly. There are some stunning descriptions of the landscape of this lovely area which made my heart soar like the skylarks in the story and make such a contrast to the horror of the wartime convoys. The characters are fantastic and most are so likeable, the exception being Alec’s father, Sir Charles who is arrogant and cold. I love how the two women’s stories change, Alec and Flora’s initially shines brightly and then changes, becoming darker and tentative whilst Lexi starts uncertainly but finds her anchor in the warm embrace of the lovely community and a very special man. Flora’s story emerges slowly with all its well hidden secrets and at times in very intense and there’s some tension where you almost hold your breath. The war sections are especially vivid especially as the impact of war is reflected in the loss of loved ones with all the grief and devastation. This is so blindingly obvious in a small community dashed by one blow after another and is heartbreaking.

Overall, this book was just what I needed it’s heartwarming, it’s sad, it’s joyous, there are little touches of humour, there’s a wonderful community but most of all the songs and singing. I love the interspersing of traditional folk songs which express so much. Thank you Fiona Valpy for this fantastic and emotional read.

With thanks to NetGalley and Amazon for the ARC for an honest review.

🌅Beautiful story of love and loss with a moving history lesson⚓

Fiona Valpy's page-turner novel focuses on strong women who deal with love, loss and single parenthood in a tight community. The story is told alternating between mother and daughter and two time periods: World War II and the late 1970's. During the earlier time period, the young women of Loch Ewe, a remote sea loch in Northwest Scotland, find love and suffer as their men risk life and limb at sea. Lexie, the daughter of a dead naval officer and the faithful woman who loved him, finds her way back to Loch Ewe when her life in London falls to pieces. This is a drama with so many memorable characters that it's best read for yourself rather than summarized. But it's so emotional, tragic at times, and a really good story of romance in trying circumstances and the tragic human cost of war. The more modern heroine's young daughter Daisy is a sunny treat.

The World War II part of the story was an eye opener for me. I had no knowledge of the dangerous missions staged out of Loch Ewe through the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans to supply Russia's armies in their defense against Germany's Russia campaign. I love a good historical novel that has a strong grounding in research and fact and Valpy's novel delivered a fine history lesson about Loch Ewe's role in the War. I wish I had known when I visited the area several years back on a tour of the Scottish Highlands.

Thanks to Lake Union published and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

An interesting novel about the North Atlantic crossings bringing supplies from Scotland to Russia during World War 2. This is the story of a mother, Flora and her daughterLexie, during the war years and during the 80’s Both women are single mothers raising their daughters under taxing circumstances. Flora, the gamekeeper’s daughter and Alec the autocratic son are star crossed lovers. Who are torn apart by Alec’s father and the war. Lexie has left her Scottish home and has a flourishing career as an opera singer in London. When she becomes pregnant and is deserted by her lover she must return home to raise her daughter. She tries to find out about her real father, Alec who her mother had only told her had died during the war. The story is told from Flora’s point of view and then likewise from Lexie’s life story. The story is finely researched and although the characters are fictional the times and history are accurate. The characters are well developed and interesting, especially Flora’s friends. This is the second novel by this author I have read and I look forward to reading more.

Love love love Fiona Valpy! Every book she writes is amazing, and The Skylark's Secret is no exception. It is a beautiful story about love, sacrifice, and forgiveness set in the Scottish countryside. This book is based on a dual timeline and told from the view of a mother during WWII, and her daughter in the 1970’s. It's truly a gripping story from start to finish, and I read it all in one day as I could not put it down. Highly recommended!

Good historical fiction wrapped around several nicely told mysteries, THE SKYLARK’S SECRET, is a dual timeline tale set in Scotland in WWII and 1978. The two tales take place in a small town where everyone knows everything, for better or worse. There’s a tendency for the author to dwell too often on the psychic benefits of love, friendship and familial bonds; it feels a tad preachy at times. But overall the characters and the setting are engaging, the story moves quickly and the sense of place is completely realistic. This is a community readers will want to visit. The book is good and a pleasure worth indulging. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Set in beautiful Scotland, Lexie returns to the Lock Ewe where her mother, Flora, lived. Lexie discovers many secrets, tales, and experiences that he didn't imagine, including those of her father. She learns of the sacrifices of her mother and things she never knew about her own past. It was a beautifully, written historical fiction novel that tugs at the heart strings and takes you back in time.

Just my second book by this author, the other also featuring WWII, but I enjoyed this book far more.
The simplicity and sincerity fit the poignant story of a family from Scotland's Highlands and their lives as lived in the area near Loch Ewe. This was a location important during the war as a muster point for convoys of warships.
The narrative alternates between the modern day (1970's) and the war period (1940's) with one thread featuring mother and the other her daughter. I don't usually enjoy sentimental love stories, but this one was well thought out and well constructed to strum the heart strings in a good way making for a strong female-centered tale.

Gorgeous prose and beautiful descriptions. This story is both heartbreaking but uplifting.
I just adored the periods of time this was set in. Present day, the seventies, eighties and war torn Britain. The descriptions were so vivid that you felt immersed in the emotions.
This is a story of love and sacrifice. Joy and hope. It is also a story to remember.
I really enjoyed this gentle tale

This novel is set in Loch Ewe, in the Scottish Highlands. Chapters alternate between two women a generation apart. Flora's story tells of her life in the village as the gamekeeper's daughter during World War II, volunteering as a Wren, and her love of the laird's son, which infuriates his snobbish father. Her daughter Lexie, who left the village to attend a prestigious theater program in London and became a West End star, returns to the village in the late 1970's with a baby, after she is rejected by her egocentric boyfriend and can no longer sing professionally. The village has many secrets, and Lexie is discovering more about the father she never knew. We learn about Flora, her friends, their joys and tragedies, and their men serving in the locally based Arctic Convoys, I was not familiar with the author, but will definitely look for more of her books. I really enjoyed getting to know these characters, and if you like historical fiction with an evocative setting, this novel would be a good choice. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to review this advance copy.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. It begins in a small town of Loch Ewe where we meet Flora who is interested in the Lairds son much to his families dismay. I just couldn't get into this book.

#TheSkylarksSecret #NetGalley

Special thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for providing me with ARC.
This novel is heartwarming, i loved since page one and can't put it down, i am a mom and know very well what you feel when you raised a child, who is taking all your time , energy and in the end of the day you will feel sham about many things you forget to do.


I loved Lexie character so much, she is adorable and lovely, i loved also her mom cottage because i am a person who adore quite and natural places.


This is the first book to me by Fiona Valpy but will not be the last and i will try more books by her.

The Skylark’s Secret tells the stories of Lexie Gordon, returning to her childhood home in the Highlands with her infant daughter, Daisy, and Flora, Lexie’s mother, who has recently died. The chapters alternate between Lexie’s experiences in the late 1970s as she settles back into her mother’s old cottage, and Flora’s life as the gamekeeper’s daughter and later a wren during the Second World War. The small community where Flora lived and where she raised Lexie lies on the shore of Loch Ewe, which during the war became an important base for the mustering of ships in readiness to make the perilous arctic runs around occupied Norway to provide supplies to the Russian allies, described by Churchill as ‘the worst journey in the world’.

I thoroughly enjoyed this dual timeline tale. Flora’s story is the larger part of the book and rightly so as part of Lexie’s journey in returning to her roots is to learn more about her mother’s wartime life and in particular her mother’s great love - Lexie’s father, Alec, whom Lexie never knew.

This is an unusual Homefront story, based around an aspect of the war that I knew little about. It is rooted in fact: the Home Fleet arrived in Loch Ewe in September 1939. Three thousand men lost their lives on the Arctic Convoys. They were fraught with danger and conducted in extreme weather conditions. Fiona Valpy conveys this in Flora’s story alongside the courage of the servicemen and women and the community spirit fostered by the local people whose lives were changed forever by a naval base of 3,000 military personnel and the constant coming and going of naval and merchant ships.

Within both stories there are descriptions of the beautiful landscape and the constantly changing seasons and weather patterns. Fiona Valpy has skilfully interwoven the natural world into the stories of Lexie and Flora and those of the other characters we meet, each of whom has their lives touched by the impact of war. The characters are warm, likeable and genuine and the sense of a Scottish community is vividly portrayed. There are some nice twists at the end which lift the story out of being too predictable.

I strongly recommend this book. It has been my first Fiona Valpy read and I’m already looking forward to the next. I have a strong back catalogue to choose from! My thanks to the author and to Net Galley for providing me with an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge historical fiction fan.so i thought i would love this book. But the book did not pull om my heart strings , like i want HF books to do. But i enjoyed where the book took place the scenery was top notch. I liked the romance . Thank you to netgalley for letting me read this e arc in exchange for an honest review

Heartbreaking story of Flora during World War 2 and so many others during this time.

I absolutely adored this book. This author has a real talent for writing historical fiction. I always learn so much as well as get absorbed fully by the story.

Lovable characters and some unexpected revelations, what else do you need from the good book!

I could not put this book down!
The Skylark’s Secret is a duel timeline novel. Told from the view of a mother during WWII and then her daughter in the 1970’s. Sometimes duel timelines can be hard to follow, but I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author intertwined both stories.
A beautifully written story about the sacrifices mothers will make for their children. A heartwarming tale of love, loss, courage and bravery.
The setting is set in a crofting village called Loch Eowe in Scotland. During the war, it was the base for the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys.
If you’re a fan of historical fiction that takes place during World War II, you will love The Skylark’s Secret. Fiona Valpy immerses you into the story, you feel like you are right there with them.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author, Fiona Valpy, for the arc of The Skylark’s Secret in return for my honest review. I truly enjoyed this book very much!

This was a beautiful story and the author’s writing captured me from the first page. The story is told from two points of view. Lexie and her mother Flora. The story moves back and forth through time as we uncover the story behind Lexie’s birth and the relationship between her mother Flora and the man she loved Alex.

If you’re a fan of historical fiction that takes place during World War II you’ll love this and the settings from Scotland are superbly done bringing this fictional town and all its inhabitants to life.

This is a wonderfully written tale set in Loch Ewe, with a dual timeframe centred around the lives of Flora during WW2 and her daughter, Lexie during the late 1970s. Following the death of her mother and an illness that sees an end to her singing carrer, Lexie returns home from London to Aultbea – a remote village in Wester Ross. Here she begins to slowly learn more of her mothers life and the role she played when the area becomes a naval base for the Home Fleet. Like many during the war, Flora and the villagers suffered hardships and heart break and here we see a glimpse of how this shaped and changed many people, and how the impacts of war also impacted the generations to come. We also see new relationships develop as hundreds naval servicemen, as well as evacuees, arrive in the village. There are also new relationships, and old ones reconnected, for Flora and it is through these connections that she learns more about her parents, their relationship and secrets long buried begin to unfurl.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the descriptions of the countryside were so accurate and intense that I could almost feel myself standing in the heather with the sea air blowing in my face. The inclusion of extracts from traditional Scottish folk songs was a lovely reminder to me, as a Scot who grew up with these songs, of the importance of these in telling the story of our homeland and its people. Overall, a very well written book, interesting storyline and enough intrigue to keep the reader gripped throughout. Many thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley UK for the free review copy in return for an honest review.

This story left me in awe. So many different pieces were woven together to make this emotional story of love, sacrifice, and strength. The writing was so detailed it made you feel as if you were right there alongside the characters. I loved every minute of this story. I think I was more sad when it ended then I was throughout the story because I loved the characters so much.

I am a fan of historical fiction, especially when it is woven into a story of family history.. Since I read and enjoyed Fiona Valpy’s Sea of Memories, I looked forward to reading her latest book, The Skylark’s Secret. After modern-day Lexie’s mother died and her own career in London’s musical theater came to a screeching halt due to an unfortunate event with her vocal cords, she decides to return (with her small daughter) to the little seaside town of Loch Ewe in the Scottish highlands to stay in the cottage where she grew up and where her mother lived before her. She has questions about her father, whom she never knew and about whom her mother would not talk. The story goes back and forth from present to around 1940 where we encounter Lexie’s mother, Flora, along with her father, brother, and friends in the village that is involved with the harboring of the Royal Navy’s Arctic convoys during World War II. As would be expected, the close-knit community reels with the angst of sending their young men off to war and failing to see many of them return. We learn that Flora is the daughter of a games keeper and is in love with the laird’s son. The relationship is frowned upon by the laird and, in fact, is expressly forbidden. All of this is a fine premise of a story, but unfortunately, for me, everything gets bogged down in the narrative as it slowly takes place. We expect families to worry, young men to die, and Flora and her young man to struggle facing his father’s judgment. I found most of the book a slog to get through and really never felt engaged in the story, It was, frankly, very boring and tedious for me. Of course at the end of the book secrets were revealed, as one would expect from the title, and I found this part of the book more interesting and engaging. It just took too long to get there. I did enjoy reading of the transformation of Lexie herself and felt satisfied with the way things turned out for her. All and all. I was rather glad when the book ended, and I probably would not recommend it to my friends.

Tragic, traumatic and heart-warming by turns, a story of courage and fulfilment in difficult times. The dual timeline of this engaging novel features Flora in the 1940s and her daughter Lexie in the 1970s, both in the Scottish Highlands. Professional singer Lexie has returned to her ancestral home with her toddler Daisy, having been deserted by her director boyfriend when she became pregnant with their child. On her mother's recent death, she has inherited the cottage where she grew up. Her mother had also been a single parent, but highland communities take care of their own. A moving tale of love, loss, bravery and happiness against the odds.