When We Fall

England, 1943 Lost in fog, pilot Vee Katchatourian is forced to make an emergency landing where she meets enigmatic RAF airman Stefan Bergel, and then can’t get him out of her mind.

In occupied Poland, Ewa Hartman hosts German officers in her father’s guest house, while secretly gathering intelligence for the Polish resistance. Mourning her lover, Stefan, who was captured by the Soviets at the start of the war, Ewa is shocked to see him on the street one day.

Haunted by a terrible choice he made in captivity, Stefan asks Vee and Ewa to help him expose one of the darkest secrets of the war. But it is not clear where everyone’s loyalties lie until they are tested.

Published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day and based on WWII atrocity the Katyn Massacre, When We Fall is a moving story of three lives forever altered by one fatal choice.

• ‘A terrific World War II novel… Tense and tender, it captures the terrifying frailties of truth and trust in brutal time’ – Daily Mail
• The demy paperback format received praise across the national press including the Times, Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Herald Scotland and was chosen as a Times and Sunday Times Historical Novel of the Year
• WWII adventure and love story perfect for fans of Sebastian Faulks’ Charlotte Gray (over 1m copies sold in the UK) and Helen Dunmore’s The Siege (27K copies sold) and The Betrayal (42K copies sold)
• 5 million people viewed BBC1’s wartime drama World on Fire, which explores similar themes
• Based on the little-known Katyn massacre of WWII, where over 20,000 Polish officers were executed under orders of the Soviet Union, who then covered up their part in the atrocity for more than 50 years
• Characters inspired by the real woman pilots who flew for Air Transport Auxiliary, as well as the only female victim of the Katyn massacre, who was also a pilot
• Extensive author tour that was planned for first edition release either moved to successful online events or have been rearranged for the B format launch
• Follows the success of author’s debut, The Conviction of Cora Burns, which received critical acclaim and was longlisted for the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown