A Message From the Queen

(Or - I have a new book to announce!)

Today is one of my favorite days in the life of an author. It’s the day when I get to announce my next novel! (Inside scoop: Since I write historical fiction about specific events or people, my publisher doesn’t like me to share what I’m writing about until the book is all done and in production - i.e., copyedits, page proofs, cover art, that kind of thing. I turned this book in in December, for example. But I’ve had to sit on it until now.)

Anyhoo - I’m thrilled to share that my next novel is called The Windsor Affair, and it will be published in June. Here’s a description of it:

The heir to the British throne and his younger brother—and their wives. One to the manor born; the other a divorced American. A feud that will last all their lives, change history and make headlines, fuel for gossip pages still today, ninety years later.

The Windsor Affair tells the fascinating story of the biggest, juiciest royal feud of all time, between Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother, and Wallis Simpson, aka That Woman. Told from the perspective of both women (with some wry asides by Queen Mary), we’re sucked into the fabulous world of the debonair Prince of Wales, café society of the 1930s, and the glittering private lives of the Windsors. There hasn’t been a novel dedicated to the feud between the women before, and fans of The Crown and The Swans of Fifth Avenue will be delighted to listen in on all the gossip and maneuvering between these two very different—yet perhaps more similar than they would admit!—women. One would become the symbol of British pluck and courage during World War II and remain a British institution for the rest of her long life; the other would be forever forced to enact the World’s Greatest Love Story even after it soured, admired, vilified, ultimately pitied. Against the backdrop of the Abdication Crisis, World War II, coronations and funerals and births and deaths, these two women maintained a bitter, biting, bitchy feud—until age, illness and the long arm of history brought about an understanding, in the end.

Feuding Windsor brothers and their wives—some things, it seems, never change.

I’ve been telling people that if you like my previous novel, The Swans of Fifth Avenue, and The Crown, then this is the book for you!

I have to say I had so much fun writing this one, and it did remind me of how it felt when I wrote The Swans. It was like I was having a fancy Afternoon Tea, complete with champagne - or in the Queen Mother’s case, more likely a stiff martini or three - every day, listening in on the real tea being spilled by the most royal of gossips. There are lots of cameos in this, too - Winston Churchill shows up as does Hitler, and even Charles and Anne Lindbergh, whom I wrote about in The Aviator’s Wife. (One day, read all my books and look for the little Easter Eggs I have throughout. Characters make many crossover appearances!)

There’s so much more to talk about in the months ahead - I’m going to London in just a couple of weeks and will be gathering lots of fun stuff to help with publicity and promotion. And of course, visiting Buckingham Palace itself! And I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes stories about why I wrote it, how I wrote it, fun things I learned along the way.

But for now, I’m enjoying one of those rare days when I get to bask in the glow of achievement and purpose and look forward to the future. (Don’t worry - it won’t last for long!)

Melanie - aka The Queen of All She Surveys