A Family Ripped Apart by War

The Lost Boys

Brought to you by Penguin. 
 
Berlin, September 1944. Ulrich von Hassell, former ambassador to Italy and a key member of the German Resistance, is executed for his part in an assassination plot against Hitler. In response to the attack, Himmler, leader of the SS, orders the arrest of all the families of the plotters. 
 
In a remote castle in Italy, von Hassell's beloved daughter, Fey, is discovered just when she thought she had escaped the Nazi net. She is arrested and her two sons, aged three and two are seized by the SS. Fey has no idea of her children's fate as she is dragged away on a terrifying journey to the darkest corners of a Europe savaged by war. 
 
Moving from a palazzo in the heart of the Italian countryside to the horrors of Buchenwald, Catherine Bailey tells an extraordinary story of resistance at the heart of the Second World War. The Lost Boys is an illuminating and devastating account of great personal sacrifice, of loss and, above all, of defiance.

Extraordinary. A rich and deep portrait. . . a gripping read

Catherine Bailey has already demonstrated a truly remarkable ability to intertwine searing family histories with great historical events. With The Lost Boys she outdoes even herself, with a true story that simultaneously shows huge personal empathy with the fate of two toddler brothers as well as a profound understanding of the pure evil that lurked at the heart of the Third Reich

Andrew Roberts, author of 'Churchill: Walking with Destiny'

I was gripped by The Lost Boys - it contained more tension, more plot in fact - than any thriller and was written with her usual extraordinary clarity and panache. To say that she makes history come alive is such a cliché and yet it's so true, she is absolutely one of my favourite writers

Bailey has an extraordinary talent for bringing history to life and The Lost Boys is as thrilling as any novel

Remarkable . . . The Lost Boys is a powerful, engrossing story of a journey into the heart of darkness and final escape from it

Bailey has a knack for bringing characters to life . . . Fascinating

One of the most harrowing, beautifully written and brilliantly researched books I have read in a very long time. I was completely absorbed from first page to last, and I enormously admire both Catherine Bailey's dedication to her subject and her expertise in recounting such a complex narrative. She is brilliant at conveying both character and location, and maintains an extraordinary control over every section of the story

Bailey has an extraordinary ability to penetrate right to the heart of a family and uncover often painful stories. An important book [that] reads like a terrifying thriller

Compelling. A remarkable piece of research which throws a bright shaft of light on powerful people, hypocrisy and the First World War

Gripping. Reads like the best kind of mystery story.

Extraordinary, fascinating, harrowing. A truly compelling read

Black Diamonds has the great gift of bringing to life personal histories...wonderfully paced and wholly satisfying

Catherine Bailey is the author of two bestselling works of twentieth-century history: Black Diamonds and The Secret Rooms. She lives in London.

Brought to you by Penguin. 
 
Berlin, September 1944. Ulrich von Hassell, former ambassador to Italy and a key member of the German Resistance, is executed for his part in an assassination plot against Hitler. In response to the attack, Himmler, leader of the SS, orders the arrest of all the families of the plotters. 
 
In a remote castle in Italy, von Hassell's beloved daughter, Fey, is discovered just when she thought she had escaped the Nazi net. She is arrested and her two sons, aged three and two are seized by the SS. Fey has no idea of her children's fate as she is dragged away on a terrifying journey to the darkest corners of a Europe savaged by war. 
 
Moving from a palazzo in the heart of the Italian countryside to the horrors of Buchenwald, Catherine Bailey tells an extraordinary story of resistance at the heart of the Second World War. The Lost Boys is an illuminating and devastating account of great personal sacrifice, of loss and, above all, of defiance.

A Castle Filled with Intrigue, a Plotting Duchess and a Mysterious Death

The Secret Rooms

A castle filled with intrigue, a plotting duchess and a mysterious death in Catherine Bailey's The Secret Rooms. 
 
At 6 am on 21 April 1940 John the 9th Duke of Rutland, and one of Britain's wealthiest men, ended his days, virtually alone, lying on a makeshift bed in a dank cramped suite of rooms in the servants' quarters of his own home, Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire. 
 
For weeks, as his health deteriorated, his family, his servants - even the King's doctor - pleaded with him to come out, but he refused. 
 
After his death, his son and heir, Charles, the 10th Duke of Rutland, ordered that the rooms be locked up and they remained untouched for sixty years. 
 
What lay behind this extraordinary set of circumstances? 
 
For the first time, in The Secret Rooms, Catherine Bailey unravels a complex and compelling tale of love, honour and betrayal, played out in the grand salons of Britain's stately homes at the turn of the twentieth century, and on the battlefields of the Western Front. At its core is a secret so dark that it consumed the life of the man who fought to his death to keep it hidden. This extraordinary mystery from the author of Black Diamonds, perfect for lovers of Downton Abbey, Brideshead Revisited and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. 
 
Praise for The Secret Rooms: 
 
'Reads like the best kind of mystery story. It is a tale of mistresses and heirlooms, cowardice and connivance, and a deeply dysfunctional family...gripping' Sunday Times 
 
'Astonishing...jaw-dropping...It would spoil the book if I revealed the whole works, suffice it to say...what a family' Sunday Telegraph 
 
'An extraordinary detective operation' John Julius Norwich

Gripping. Reads like the best kind of mystery story. It is a tale of mistresses and heirlooms, cowardice and connivance

'Astonishing, jaw-dropping, superb. Horrifying, extraordinary

Extraordinary, edge-of-the-seat, enthralling. All the ingredients of a lurid horror. The plot is thick with destroyed documents, decadent aristocracy, betrayed honour and curses

Compelling. A remarkable piece of research which throws a bright shaft of light on powerful people, hypocrisy and the first world war

Wonderful . . . has everything: family intrigue and hatred, love and war, witches' curses, eccentricity, snobbery and a series of shocking secrets. No reader can finish it unmoved

Teems with hypocrisy, deceit, parental manipulation and bullying. Bailey artfully shows how guilt, grief, pride and shame levied a heavy toll

Excellent, beautifully crafted, fascinating

Excellent. A fine, suspenseful, atmospheric tale, a less melodramatic and more nuanced Downton Abbey

Bailey's fascinating book takes us to the heart of a family tragedy ... this is a horrifying story of love, despair, intrigue, snobbery and upper class eccentricity which reads like fiction but is amazingly - and shockingly - real

The mysterious death of a Duke and a castle full of treacherous goings-on make The Secret Rooms a gripping read for fans of Downton Abbey. As thrilling as any fiction, Catherine Bailey uncovers the darkest depths of a family with plenty of skeletons in its closet

At 6 am on 21 April 1940 John the 9th Duke of Rutland, and one of Britain's wealthiest men, ended his days, virtually alone, lying on a makeshift bed in a dank cramped suite of rooms in the servants' quarters of his own home, Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire. 
 
For weeks, as his health deteriorated, his family, his servants - even the King's doctor - pleaded with him to come out, but he refused. 
 
After his death, his son and heir, Charles, the 10th Duke of Rutland, ordered that the rooms be locked up and they remained untouched for sixty years. 
 
What lay behind this extraordinary set of circumstances? 
 
For the first time, in The Secret Rooms, Catherine Bailey unravels a complex and compelling tale of love, honour and betrayal, played out in the grand salons of Britain's stately homes at the turn of the twentieth century, and on the battlefields of the Western Front. At its core is a secret so dark that it consumed the life of the man who fought to his death to keep it hidden.

The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty

Black Diamonds

An extraordinary tale of family feuds, forbidden love, civil unrest and the downfall of a mining dynasty

An extraordinary tale of family feuds, forbidden love, civil unrest and the downfall of a mining dynasty 
 
 Wentworth in Yorkshire was surrounded by 70 collieries employing tens of thousands of men. It is the finest and largest Georgian house in Britain and belonged to the Fitzwilliam family. 
 
 England's forgotten palace, it belonged to Britain's richest aristocrats. Black Diamonds tells the story of its demise: family feuds, forbidden love, class war, and a tragic and violent death played their part. But coal, one of the most emotive issues in twentieth century British politics, lies at its heart. 
 
 This is the extraordinary story of how the fabric of English society shifted beyond recognition in fifty turbulent years in the twentieth century. 
 
 'Magnificent . . . peels back the grand façade of Wentworth to reveal a family riven with fueds, mental illness and forbidden love' Tatler 
 
 'A compelling new history . . . fascinating insights into the dynasty that once ruled this Yorkshire roost' Daily Mail 
 
 'An aristocratic tale of epic proportions, this gripping novel cleverly interweaves interviews, letters and historical fact . . . Fascinating' Easy Living

Wentworth is in Yorkshire and was surrounded by 70 collieries employing tens of thousands of men. It is the finest and largest Georgian house in Britain andbelonged to the Fitzwilliam family. 
 
It is England's forgotten palace which belonged to Britain's richest aristocrats. Black Diamonds tells the story of its demise: family feuds, forbidden love, class war, and a tragic and violent death played their part. But coal, one of the most emotive issues in twentieth century British politics, lies at its heart. 
 
This is the extraordinary story of how the fabric of English society shifted beyond recognition in fifty turbulent years in the twentieth century.

Catherine Bailey

The True Story of a Mother, her Missing Sons and the Plot to Kill Hitler

In September, 1944, the SS march into a remote Italian castle, arrest a mother and seize her two sons, aged just two and three. If Hitler has his way she will never see them again. For Fey Pirzio-Biroli is the daughter of Ulrich von Hassell, executed days before after the failed assassination of the Fuhrer. Mercilessly cast into the Nazi death machine, Fey must cling to the hope that one day she will escape and rescue her lost children . . .

Catherine Bailey

Fey's War

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