JEWELS: Carol Drinkwater
We were newly in love and rather poor and still living in two separate countries. He was in Paris while I was in London and it made me feel so treasured to wear this as I went about my acting days, filming whatever the programme was I was shooting at the time. Our pregnancy was a secret. Throughout the days I would lift my hand up to my neck and touch the delicate chain and feel the green stone. It reminded me of a tiny fruit. It reminded me of spring, of new growth, and seemed a fitting celebration for the little girl forming within me.
A while later, Michel bought me a gold ring with a twin emerald stone set into it. This he offered to me as an engagement ring.
They were my joy.
The necklace still is.
I lost the little girl I was carrying through a miscarriage. Then, some years later, the ring was stolen. Only the chain remains. It carries with it all the joy of those days of our hoped-for child, of our crazy early love, but there is no sadness.
Thirty years on, Michel and I are still together, very happily married. We have written and produced films together, renovated our old Olive Farm - the inspiration for several of my books - and we celebrate the grandchildren born of Michel's twin daughters from his first marriage.
We have everything to be grateful for. And this piece reminds me of the early highs of falling for another before I knew the blessings of love matured.
It was an idyllic summer. Until they had to escape.
France, 1943.
Forced to flee war ravaged Poland, Sara and her parents are offered refuge in a beautiful but dilapidated house in the French Alps. It seems the perfect hideaway, despite haunting traces of the previous occupants who left in haste.
But shadows soon fall over Sara's blissful summer, and her blossoming romance with local villager Alain. As the Nazis close in, the family is forced to make a harrowing choice that could drive them apart forever, while Sara's own bid for freedom risks several lives.
Will Sara be reunited with those she loves?
And can she ever find her way back to Alain?
By turns poignant and atmospheric, this is the compelling new novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Carol Drinkwater about the power of first love and courage in our darkest hours.
'A lovely novel. A moving story of love and friendship with a wonderful sense of place'
Kate Mosse
'An outstanding and beautifully written story . . . tells a part of history that should never be forgotten' Shirley Dickson, author of The Lost Children
'I loved An Act of Love: it's a virtual hug of a tale; warm, and engaging, and tender. Just what I needed' Joanne Harris, Sunday Times bestselling author
'An outstanding and beautifully written story . . . tells a part of history that should never be forgotten' Shirley Dickson, author of The Lost Children
'I loved An Act of Love: it's a virtual hug of a tale; warm, and engaging, and tender. Just what I needed' Joanne Harris, Sunday Times bestselling author
'An Act of Love' will be published on 29th April 2021 and is available for preorder.
Carol was recently interviewed about her life and work at the Lockdown Litfest
