Paris has never been hotter
for one wartime romance between two undercover operatives, until both their lives are at risk.
In the final two years of the war in Europe, French Resistance fighter Jacques Berlangier and his determined, American OSS partner Claire Skiffington struggle to survive a series of hazardous assignments in support of Allied operations. In the war's immediate aftermath, in love and together in Paris, they return to his family's apple farm business in the Breton countryside. There, residual and unforeseen trouble rivals the dangers they thought were well past. Revenge, murderous alliances, and heroic efforts from unexpected sources propel the action.“Finely crafted with an artisan's touch, there is an unseen history beneath the lives of those trying to survive. Precisely researched, McMaster adroitly drops the reader behind the lines of clandestine operations. The grim destruction of Europe is brought to life with beautiful imagery and reconnoitered characters-every bit as interesting as those of Ken Follett's Eye of the Needle and The Key to Rebecca. This is a fine novel no one should pass up.”
— William Walsh, author of Lakewood (TouchPoint Press)
As you begin this book, prepare yourself for reading a writer who knows the details of espionage so well they feel like second nature, rather than research. Prepare yourself for lush, lyrical prose and the historical span of an Ian McEwan novel. This is a spy story, a love story, and a family story set largely in France, during a war, but McMaster balances the deprivations of war with domestic arts, the healing chores of mother women who bake stolen oranges into cakes, somehow find tea to serve, and harvest the slenderest sprigs of tarragon and chervil, plucked from their gardens, and stored in delicate clay pottery. This is a white knuckle thriller written by someone with all the sensibilities of a poet.
— Susan Tekulve, author of In the Garden of Stone
EARLY PRAISE
" ... a highly engaging immersion into the stove-hot WWII theater in northern France, featuring a strong heroine and a cast of characters whose true nature one cannot always trust. The multi-layered story combines suspense, espionage, and romance in a tense drama reminiscent of Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale.”
— Mike Krentz, award-winning author of the Dr. Zack Winston and Mahoney & Squire series
“Arthur McMaster’s Orchards of Our Mothers provides an exciting glimpse into the clouds of darkness, secrecy, and danger that shadowed allied OSS operations in France in 1944 and the post-war years. He offers detailed depictions of not only the physical challenges, but also the emotional costs paid by agents and French partisans alike. But not all grudges and threats ended with the war, as McMaster’s well-drawn characters of Claire, Jacques, Nina and others reveal. Arthur McMaster effectively leverages his real-life experiences in military intelligence and espionage to create a smooth blend of action, intrigue, and romance that will entertain historical fiction enthusiasts and have them clamoring for more in the series."
— James D. Brewer, author Blood on the Crossties
Arthur McMaster
worked in the American intelligence and special operations community for nearly 30 years. Much of his career was spent in Europe, working with NATO partners. Retiring from government service he returned to university to earn an MFA in creative writing and taught writing and literature courses for several years. He and his wife Sue live in Greenville, SC.