A letter from the past. A wartime secret buried on a Greek island. A truth that will echo across generations…

When Trisha receives an unexpected letter to her Liverpool home, it opens a decades’ old mystery, drawing her back into her family’s forgotten past, the horrors of war, and a small island off the coast of Greece…

Eighty years earlier, on the island of Milos, Dora is dreaming of a better life, free from the oppression of the occupying army and, closer to home, the brutal rule of her father, an infamous horse breeder.

Then a German cargo ship is bombed in the harbour, killing dozens of the men on board. The islanders trawl the waters for spoilage from the wreckage – finding among the debris a badly injured man, who may just hold the awful truth about what happened.

Dora soon finds this man under her care, and it changes her life forever, introducing her to the possibility of love and freedom for the first time… But Dora cannot know, as she nurses the stranger back to health, that her actions will have devastating consequences for her beloved island. Consequences that will last for generations…

On the island of Milos, one act of compassion will change a life forever – and leave consequences that last for decades.

Praise for Patricia Wilson:

'Full of raw emotion' ― Sunday Post, on Villa of Secrets

'This book would for me have been a perfect beach read. Instead it made a great lockdown read as I sat in my garden with a glass of rose, imagining I was on holiday' ― Fab After Fifty

'Packed with intrigue, danger and romance, Wilson's passion for the classics and an endless fascination with foraging into the vibrant corners of history, this is a poignant and beautifully written story best read on a sunlounger with a glass of chilled ouzo' ― Lancashire Telegraph, on Secrets of Santorini

'We race to the end with our hearts thumping. Full of local colour and tradition this is a little slow to start but certainly builds to unexpected conclusions. Terrific stuff' ― Love Reading, on Villa of Secrets