It’s 1959 and time for 18-year-old Sophie’s real life to start. Her existence in the village of Poynsdean, Sussex, with her austere foster-father and his frustrated wife is suffocating.
She dreams of escape to Paris, the wartime home her French mother fled before her birth.
Getting there will take spirit and ingenuity, but it will be her chance to uncover the mystery of her family background, and, perhaps, to find a place where she can finally belong.
When Sophie eventually arrives in the Paris arising from the ashes of the war, it’s both everything she imagined, and not at all what she expected…
Bonjour, Sophie by Elizabeth Buchan is published in paperback on 10 April, 2025.
In The surprising joys of armchair travel Elizabeth writes about researching this book while unable to travel. There are lots of tips for writers in her feature.
You’ll find more historical fiction in Historia’s round-up of over 160 books published this year.
