The Woman in the Sable Coat
by Elizabeth Brooks
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Pub Date Mar 05 2024 | Archive Date Feb 29 2024
Tin House | Tin House Books
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Description
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.
About the Author:
Elizabeth Brooks is the author of The Orphan of Salt Winds, The Whispering House, and The House in the Orchard. She grew up in Chester, England, graduated from Cambridge University, and resides on the Isle of Man with her husband and two children.
Advance Praise
"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, author of The Summer Before The War
"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, Internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781959030355 |
| PRICE | $17.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 372 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Janice O, Media/Journalist
The Woman in the Sable Coat is a story of infidelity, secrets, murder, friendship, and marriage. In the prologue, we meet Nina in 1946, returning home to England from Canada on an ocean liner. She is anguished and suicidal, the reason to be revealed. Moving back to 1934, Nina and her best friend, Rose, are young teenagers. While enjoying a summer day, a strange man appears looking for Hawthorn House. Joey is here from Canada to visit his friend Guy. The girls lead him across the field to Hawthorn House, where Guy and his pregnant wife Kate live. Nina impulsively invites Joey, Guy, and Kate to dinner that evening with her and her father Henry. Nina is attracted to Guy, and Kate begins a fascination with Henry.
Written in alternate narratives by Nina and Kate, the novel tells of Nina’s and Rose’s friendship, Kate’s and Guy’s marriage, Joey’s and Guy’s friendship, and Henry’s lonely life as a widower. A murder occurred at Hawthorn House years earlier that lurks in the background and comes to the foreground as a shocking secret is gradually revealed. WWII begins. Nina, in the WAAFs, and Guy, with the RAF, find themselves stationed at the same airbase. Here their affair begins while back home Kate and Henry develop a friendship.
The novel moves slowly in the beginning as Brooks develops the characters, but the pace picks up as the plot builds. Her depiction of the marriage of Guy and Kate is realistic in its subtleties, and Kate’s dissatisfaction while still in love with her husband. The women in this novel are real; Nina and Kate have their virtues and flaws. Guy is self-centered, while Henry may not be the upstanding widower we see. The friends, Rose and Joey, though secondary characters, are interesting and round out the four main characters. This is a wonderful read.
Historical Novels Review, February 2024
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