by Hazel Gaynor
First published 2024
December 1952. Queen Elizabeth II prepares for her first Christmas broadcast as monarch while the nation gathers at Sandringham House. Olive Carter, a single mother and BBC typist with reporter dreams, arrives to cover the royal holiday celebration. In the palace kitchens, grief-stricken New Orleans chef Jack Devereux begins his assignment cooking for the royal family. When Olive and Jack reconnect as old friends, their shared past sparks new possibilities. Over five Christmas seasons, their paths intertwine as the Queen transitions from radio to her first televised address in 1957. Olive pursues her journalism ambitions while guarding a devastating secret. Jack channels his culinary skills while wrestling with widowhood and loss. Both find themselves drawn together despite professional obstacles and personal wounds. As Christmas Day 1957 approaches and the nation prepares to watch their Queen on television, Olive faces a choice that will either destroy her relationship with Jack forever or open the door to an unexpected future.
Genres: romance, christmas, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: BBC, New Orleans, Sandringham House
Period: 1952, 1957
374 pages · Hardcover · William Morrow