Christine Wells Author

COVER REVEAL! 👑

I’m excited to share the cover of my friend, ’s forthcoming, royal dog-loving historical fiction novel, THE QUEEN’S FAITHFUL COMPANION! Isn’t the corgi adorable?

✭✭✭ ABOUT THE BOOK ✭✭✭

From USA Today bestselling author Eliza Knight comes an endearing and vivid story told from the unique multi-narrative viewpoints of a young Queen Elizabeth, Hanna Fenwyck, the fictionalized Keeper of the Queen’s dogs, and Susan, the Queen's Corgi, whose love and loyalty were boundless.

A reigning queen…

Elizabeth wasn’t born to be queen. After all, her uncle was the heir. But when he abdicates the throne, and her father steps in as king, everything in Elizabeth’s life and her future path changes. But there is one thing that never wavers, and that is her endearing love of her Corgis—especially the new puppy Susan, who is gifted to her for her eighteenth birthday. Despite the pressures of royal life, Elizabeth always finds calm and peace with her faithful companion. Susan, a member of the royal household, is by her side during Elizabeth’s WWII service, falling in love with Philip and getting married, the death of her father King George VI, her accession to the throne, the birth of her first child, and the early struggles with running a country. The duties of a reigning monarch are not new to Elizabeth, but finding the balance between self and crown will be a constant test to her spirit.

A loyal servant…

Hanna Fenwyck has grown up with her family in service to the crown. A little bit awkward, and often feeling alone, she has a connection with nature, animals— and the young princesses at Windsor. Hanna sees the queen from a different perspective than anyone else in service. Her job is to maintain the health and wellness of the queen’s most prized companion—she is the Keeper of the Queens Corgis. With Hanna, Elizabeth can open up, and talk about things she finds joy in, such as her dogs, nature, and hunting. Elizabeth is free to be herself, versus a queen who must keep herself at arm’s length from everyone.

A faithful companion…

From the moment Susan became Elizabeth’s, she knew what her duty as a royal dog was. To remind Elizabeth that she is more than just a queen, she is a human, and that the key to life is not just duty and honor, but connection, family, and unconditional and enduring love. Susan is the keeper of memories, of secrets. Though she’s got trouble communicating through speech, she tries her hardest to help Elizabeth in her times of need. Through Susan we gain a dog’s eye view of royal life, human relationships, and the heartwarming bond between a queen and her beloved companion.

✭✭✭ PRE-ORDER NOW ✭✭✭

HarperCollins: https://bit.ly/HC-Corgis
Amazon: https://bit.ly/Amazon-Corgis
Audible: https://bit.ly/ListentoCorgis
B&N: https://bit.ly/BN-Corgis
Apple: https://bit.ly/Apple-Corgis
Google: https://bit.ly/Google-Corgis
Kobo: https://bit.ly/Kobo-Corgis
Indigo: https://bit.ly/indigo-Corgis

✭✭✭ ADD TO GOODREADS ✭✭✭
https://bit.ly/Read-Corgis

Apparently they are now casting the next Moneypenny for the new James Bond movie. I feel I have quite a stake in this decision, given my affection for the real life Miss Moneypenny, Paddy Bennett, who starred in One Woman's War! I think Phoebe Waller-Bridge would be fantastic in the role and if she could get her hands on the script, even better! Who would you choose?

For those of you who read and loved Sisters of the Resistance, you are in for a televisual treat! Finally, The New Look is coming to Apple TV+ on Valentine's Day next year! While I firmly believe Catherine Dior needs her own story (any producers out there want to option Sisters of the Resistance???) it is wonderful to have Catherine featured in The New Look, played by Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones fame. Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior, Juliette Binoche as Coco Chanel, John Malkovich as Lucien LeLong. I am so excited for this series!

I’m excited to share the cover of Erika Robuck's forthcoming Prohibition-era novel, THE LAST TWELVE MILES—featuring two real, brilliant women on two sides of the law, in a daring game of cat and mouse. Fans of Robuck's HEMINGWAY’S GIRL settings and her war novels, THE INVISIBLE WOMAN and SISTERS OF NIGHT AND FOG—featuring real women in intelligence history—will enjoy this boozy, Catch Me If You Can style fusion. Cheers!

If you’re a writer or a reader interested in the writing process, you might like this podcast I did with the amazing Valerie Khoo of The Australian Writers Centre. Link 👇

Delighted to receive this wonderful review from The Historical Novel Society about The Royal Windsor Secret!

THE PARIS GOWN! Sent to my editor this morning! *Muppet Flail*

Waving to all of my UK readers! I'm thrilled to report that The Royal Windsor Secret is out now in paperback, e-book, and audio in the United Kingdom! With thanks to and

A little about the book:
👑 Could she be the secret daughter of the Prince of Wales? In this dazzling novel by the author of Sisters of the Resistance, a young woman seeks to discover the truth about her mysterious past. Perfect for readers of Shana Abe, Bryn Turnbull, and Marie Benedict.

👑 Cleo Davenport has heard the whispers: the murmured conversations that end abruptly the second she walks into a room. Told she was an orphan, she knows the rumor—that her father is none other than the Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne. And at her childhood home at Cairo’s Shepheard’s Hotel, where royals, rulers, and the wealthy live, they even called her “The Princess.”

💎But her life is turned upside down when she turns seventeen. Sent to London under the chaperonage of her very proper aunt, she’s told it’s time to learn manners and make her debut. But Cleo’s life can’t be confined to a ballroom. She longs for independence and a career as a jewelry designer for Cartier, but she cannot move forward until she finds out about her past.
Determined to unlock the truth, Cleo travels from London, back to Cairo, and then Paris, where her investigations take a shocking turn into the world of the Parisian demi-monde, and a high-class courtesan whose scandalous affair with the young Prince of Wales threatened to bring down the British monarchy long before anyone had heard of Wallis Simpson.

It's been a huge couple of weeks since the Australian release of The Royal Windsor Secret, culminating in the United Service Club literary luncheon yesterday, where I was the guest speaker. Wonderful to meet so many avid readers with a genuine interest in history. This lovely lady had already read The Royal Windsor Secret and dressed up specially, with an Egyptian-themed Camilla and gorgeous costume jewels à la Cleo Davenport!

I really enjoyed this delightful interview with Jenn Jordan about The Royal Windsor Secret on Turn the Page, a podcast from the librarians at the Syosset Public Library:

Turn The Page – Episode 268e | Turn The Page – Syosset Public Library Turn The Page – Episode 268e Posted on October 19, 2023 by turnthepage https://media.blubrry.com/turnthepage/content.blubrry.com/turnthepage/268_E_Christine_Wells_.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:39 — 15.2MB)Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | TuneIn | RSS | M...

Terrific session with and with Diane Murray moderating at the Historical Novel Society Australasia conference today. Thanks to all who came along. We had fun .

Nice to see THE ROYAL WINDSOR SECRET on New Release shelves in the airport today! Have you picked up your copy yet?

OUT NOW! 𝕋𝔼ℝℝ𝕆ℝ 𝕀ℕ 𝕋𝕆ℙ𝔸ℤ, the fourth instalment in the popular HARRIET GORDON MYSTERY SERIES written by my lovely friend A.M. Stuart. If you haven't read this series yet, you must! It's one of my favourite mystery series of all time.

Availaible in print and ebook (and coming in audio) ... https://books2read.com/terrorintopaz..

The chance to pursue a new opportunity takes Harriet and her brother Julian, to Kuala Lumpur, but death is waiting…
Singapore 1910: Harriet Gordon has been dismissed from the job she loved and finds herself cast adrift. When her brother receives an invitation to visit a prestigious school in Kuala Lumpur, she and Julian decide to leave Singapore behind for a few days, but their pleasant visit takes a dark turn when a visitor to the school is shot dead on the front steps of the headmaster’s bungalow.
After being suspended from the Straits Settlements Police, Inspector Robert Curran has disappeared on a personal quest to find a missing girl but his suspension is not all it appears and he receives secretive orders to investigate the mysterious Topaz Club, which seems to be at the centre of high-level corruption within the colonial government of Malaya.

The uninvestigated death of a woman with links to the Topaz Club, brings Harriet and Curran together in a determination to shut down the notorious establishment for good.
But a devious criminal stands in the way and it is going to take Harriet and Curran all their resources to bring justice for the victims of the Topaz Club and in doing so, find what it is they have been looking for in each other.

Thank you to all who came along to celebrate the launch of THE ROYAL WINDSOR SECRET tonight! Ally Blake and I dusted off our tiaras for the occasion. Thanks Ally Blake, Author! You did an amazing job!

Always a pleasure to visit Dymocks Indooroopilly who have supported my books for many years. Signed copies of THE ROYAL WINDSOR SECRET are available in store now! And thanks also to the lovely Erin Dunk from HarperCollins for her time today.

Would you like to come to a literary luncheon and hear all about The Royal Windsor Secret? On October 25 at 12pm the historic United Service Club is opening this event to non-members so here's your chance to experience this beautiful club in the.heart of Brisbane!
Please contact [email protected] to book your place. Hope to see you there!

👑 Price is $77 per person, inclusive of 2-course lunch with table wines
👑 Payment will be required at time of booking
👑 No refund for cancellation
👑 Dress code is Professional (no jeans, sneakers or t-shirts)
👑 Please advise any dietaries when booking
👑 Bookings close Wednesday, 18 October

And the first draft of THE PARIS GOWN is done! Can't wait to share this story with you. Lots of revision work to do but I'm looking forward to it!

Fantasy casting for the Royal Windsor Secret : for Cleo, Grace Kelly; for Brodie, Tom Hardy and for Serafina, no one but Helena Bonham Carter would do!

I had a lovely time in this interview with Victoria Carthew from QBD Books, talking about The Royal Windsor Secret.

QBD Ch 7 Book Club Interview: "The Royal Windsor Secret’” by Christine Wells In this week’s episode, our host Victoria Carthew sits down with Christine Wells to talk about her latest release “The Royal Windsor Secret”. In this dazzlin...

One of the main characters in The Royal Windsor Secret, Parisian courtesan, Marguerite Fahmy, is pictured here (left) with her only daughter, Raymonde, to whom she gave birth when Marguerite was 16. As Raymonde attained a beauty that rivaled Marguerite's, the two became estranged.

Raymonde married Raymond Fischof la Foux, who fought in the French Resistance. Marguerite lived out the war in an apartment across from the Ritz, above the jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels. Her neighbour for the first part of the war was Noël Coward, but the apartment was later requisitioned by the N***s. You can see the ropes of pearls around Marguerite's neck--part of the jewellery collection she guarded with a loaded revolver under her pillow.

Thank you to The Book Reporter for this wonderful review of The Royal Windsor Secret!

At the time The Royal Windsor Secret is set, the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc was patronised by everyone who was anyone, including the Duke and Duchess of Windsor before they rented their own place at Château de la Croë. Hotel du Cap was to the French Riviera what Shepheard's Hotel was to Egypt. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about the hotel in "Tender is the Night", renaming it "Hotel des Étrangers"--which just happens to be the book Cleo is reading on the beach at Antibes when she stays at the hotel in The Royal Windsor Secret.

Have you discovered THE ROYAL WINDSOR SECRET yet? Christine Wells Author spins another dazzling tale full of intrigue and richly-drawn history you don't want to miss! Join ambitious and indepedant Cleo as she travels from country to country to pursue her dreams - and the truth of her parentage 💎 Buy Now: https://bit.ly/48tMZpR

One of the must-try places in Paris which Cleo Davenport visits in The Royal Windsor Secret is still in operation today: Angelina on the rue de Rivoli. Coco Chanel went to this elegant salon de thé for the famous African hot chocolate. A signature dish is the Mont Blanc, pictured above.

If Cleo Davenport in The Royal Windsor Secret is the secret, illegitimate daughter of Edward VIII (later the Duke of Windsor) and the French courtesan, Marguerite, how did she end up in Egypt?

In the late 1800s and early 1900s it was common for wealthy Europeans to spend the winters in Egypt--this was especially so when all of the excitement surrounding the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings during the 1920s. Marguerite was a frequent visitor to Shepheard's Hotel and after her affair with Edward, she went to Egypt and eventually married Ali Fahmy bey, a wealthy Egyptian pl***oy. Marguerite converted to Islam but she was far from a dutiful wife. You can read more about the scandal surrounding her marriage to Ali in The Royal Windsor Secret.

Congratulations and happy release day to Natasha Lester - Author! Loved this book!

Today’s the day!!!!! THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ASTRID BRICARD is published in Australia and New Zealand at last!

Thank you to everyone who’s preordered the book! Please share your pics with me - I love seeing it out in readers’ hands!

And happy reading! I hope you love Astrid, Mizza and Blythe’s story!!

You can find out more here: https://natashalester.com.au/astridbricard

AVAILABLE NOW! Happy new release to my friend, Andrea Penrose, whose Regency-set historical mystery, Murder at the Merton Library, is out today. Publisher’s Weekly says, “A scientific innovation stokes deadly rivalries in Penrose’s engrossing seventh Regency-era whodunit featuring the Earl of Wrexford and cartoonist Charlotte Sloane . . . Her deep dive into early 18th-century technology is a treat. In the crowded field of Regency mysteries, this series stands out.”

A perplexing murder in a renowned library at Oxford University and a suspicious fire in the London research laboratory of a famous inventor set Wrexford and Charlotte on two separate investigations which put each of them —and everyone they hold dear—in harm’s way as past secrets entangle them in a dangerous web of lies and betrayals . . .

As they delve deeper into the baffling clues, Wrexford and Charlotte begin to realize that things are not what they seem. An evil conspiracy is lurking in the shadows and threatens all they hold dear—unless they can tie the loose threads together before it’s too late . . . To purchase: https://books2read.com/u/bQeJeD

Tiara Tuesday! When researching The Royal Windsor Secret, I found a documentary called, "Inside the Dream" incredibly helpful. This followed the creative process of one of the few female high jewellery creative directors in the world, Lucia Silvestri of Bulgari.

In the documentary, we see the step-by-step process of design that goes from concept, to sourcing gemstones, to Lucia persuading a gem dealer to sell her a massive emerald that has been in his family for generations, to deciding how the gemstone will be cut, right down to the design of the necklace itself. I loved watching Silvestri play with the gemstones and dream up her designs, using the stones themselves as inspiration. The finished product was this spectacular 93.83-carat Colombian cabochon-cut emerald necklace called the Serpenti Hypnotic, in the signature Bulgari snake motif.

In The Royal Windsor Secret, Cleo is designing jewellery with a limited budget and post-war resources, but often necessity is the mother of invention, and Cleo finds innovative solutions to her problems sourcing precious gems.

Getting the pacing right is one of the most difficult challenges most novelists face. This is a huge topic--generally I give a full day workshop on it and it's not enough time--but for some handy hints, check out my article in Writer's Digest: https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/8-tools-for-pacing-your-novel

👑 The full review: "A fictionalized Duke and Duchess of Windsor take a star turn in this utterly absorbing novel that wends its way from Cairo to Paris and then on to London, Lisbon and the wilds of Scotland. Foremost, this is the story of Cleo Davenport, an orphan discovered outside Cairo’s Shepheard’s Hotel between the world wars. She grows up in Cairo in the shadow of rumors that her father might be the man who, at the time of her birth, was the Prince of Wales. Drawing inspiration from the time that former king Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson spent in Portugal and the real-life French courtesan with whom the Duke most likely had an affair, Wells unwinds a globe-trotting tale of romance and mystery wrapped in historical detail."

What a terrific experience to join the delightful Victoria Carthew at QBD Books headquarters for an in-depth interview about The Royal Windsor Secret. Topics ranged from tips for aspiring writers to the conspiracy theories surrounding the Duke of Windsor. Thank you, QBD and for the opportunity!

Read an excerpt from The Royal Windsor Secret on Marshal Zeringue's Page 69 Test!

Pg. 69: Christine Wells's "The Royal Windsor Secret" Featured at the Page 69 Test: The Royal Windsor Secret : A Novel by Christine Wells . About the book, from the publisher: Could she be the ...

When the Duke and Duchess of Windsor fled the N**i occupation of France to Portugal, they stayed at a villa owned by Ricardo Espiríto Santo, a wealthy Portuguese banker. The villa was situated near the village of Cascais on the Portuguese Riviera and named “Boca do Inferno”, (“the jaws of hell”) after a nearby rock formation where the sea formed a devil’s cauldron. In The Royal Windsor Secret, Cleo stays with the couple while they wait to ship out to the Bahamas, where the duke was to become Governor. Hi**er had ordered his underlings in Spain and Portugal to kidnap the Windsors while they stayed at the villa, and Cleo witnesses several strange occurrences during their stay.

Happy Book Birthday to my lovely friend, whose historical novel ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL goes on sale today! This book about female friendship and bodily autonomy is a GMA Book Club spotlight and has a starred review from Booklist. The Washington Post calls it a “searing portrait of the Chicago women who in the 1970s were known as the Jane Collective … Maher achieves a remarkable rendering of women’s interior lives as they try to balance motherhood, careers and relationships with the need to maintain control of their health care, even if it risks arrest."

It’s available on all platforms, wherever books are sold: https://www.kerrimaher.com/all-you-have-to-do-is-call/

Dubbed one of the “Lost Girls”, by Peter Quennell, and the author of several novels and essays, Barbara Skelton was a scandalous figure of the mid-twentieth century. Skelton became the mistress of King Farouk of Egypt while working as a “cypherene” at the British Embassy in Cairo in World War II. While her character is nothing like Cleo Davenport’s in The Royal Windsor Secret, Barbara Skelton’s accounts of her time in Egypt informed the backdrop to Cleo’s adventures there.

Tiara Tuesday! During the N**i occupation of France in World War II, many jewellers and fashion houses remained open to avoid the N***s requisitioning their businesses, but while they did remain open, they had to tread carefully. In defiance of the N***s, Cartier designer, Pierre Lemarchand, who appears in The Royal Windsor Secret, designed a brooch that was jewelled bird in a cage, representing the French people under N**i rule (left). The story goes that the N***s, seeing this as subversive, hauled in Pierre and creative director, Jeanne Toussaint for questioning. After liberation, Lemarchand created the Liberty Bird, released from the cage (right) and this design is still recreated in various iterations to this day.

Isn't this a gorgeous cover? My friend, has a new book coming out and I can't wait to read it! THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY is about two women who go to work at the newly established Cadbury factory in Tasmania, Australia in 1921. This novel is based on the true story of corporate espionage around Cadbury's secret "Dairy Milk Chocolate" formula that inspired Roald Dahl when he wrote "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". It's up for pre-order now, so don't miss it!