Secret Countess
'A fairy tale for grown-ups. It's unapologetically romantic but it's also extremely funny, wry, dry and witty - and hugely uplifting.' – Marian Keyes, Daily Mail
As WWI draws to a close, a love affair that stretches across countries, families and class begins, in master storyteller Eva Ibbotson's classic historical romance The Secret Countess, with an introduction from Amanda Craig.
Anna Grazinsky, a young Russian countess, has lived in the glittering city of St Petersburg all her life in an ice-blue palace overlooking the River Neva. But when revolution tears Russia apart, her now-penniless family is forced to flee to England. Armed with an out-of-date book on housekeeping, Anna determines to help her family in any way possible, and she is soon hired as a housemaid at the Earl of Westerholme's crumbling but magnificent mansion.
Then Rupert, the young Earl, returns home from the war and is fascinated by his new housemaid, and the more time they spend together the more they feel inexplicably drawn together. But they can never be together; Rupert is already engaged and Anna is only a servant . . .
'I have binged on Eva Ibbotson . . . her elegantly written, witty and well-observed fables' – Nigella Lawson, The Times
Rediscover Eva Ibbotson, award-winning author of Journey to the River Sea, in her sweeping historical romances, including The Morning Gift, A Song For Summer and The Secret Countess, originally published as A Countess Below Stairs.
Eva Ibbotson was born in Vienna in 1925 and moved to England with her father when the Nazis came to power. She wrote more than twenty books for children and young adults, many of which garnered nominations for major awards for children's literature in the UK, including the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the Whitbread Prize. Imaginative and humorous, Eva's books often convey her love of nature, in particular the Austrian countryside, which is evident in works such as The Star of Kazan and A Song for Summer.
Eva passed away at her home in Newcastle on 20 October 2010. Her final book, One Boy and His Dog, was published in May 2011.