Francesca Capaldi Books In Order

Publication Order of The Beach Hotel Books

Publication Order of Wartime in the Valleys Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Francesca Capaldi is a romance, historical fiction and saga author that is best known for her “Wartime in the Valleys” series of novels. The author has always loved writing ever since she was a child. Growing up, her Welsh mother who used to tell stories was a huge influence.

As a former teacher and history graduate, she decided to become a professional author after writing as a hobby for several years. Capaldi soon became very active in the writer community. She is a member of several writer associations including the Society of Women Journalists and Writers and the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

As a novelist, she writes as both Francesca Burgess and Francesca Capaldi. She has also written many short stories that have been published in a variety of magazines abroad and in the United Kingdom.

She has also authored a number of articles that have appeared in several newspapers and magazines. Her short stories have been in several anthologies including “7 Food Stories from Rome,” “Diamonds and Pearls” and “100 Stories for Haiti.”

Francesca currently makes her home in Kent, where she lives with her family and cat.

Having been a huge fan of reading, there are many authors Francesca Capaldi has been a fan of over the years. Some that she particularly likes include Elizabeth Gouge, Freya North, Daphne du Maurier, Lisa Jewell, Sue Moorcraft, Santa Montefiore, and Dilly Court.

She is also partial to crime fiction and particularly likes the works of Ann Cleeves Shetland. Growing up, all she ever wanted to do was grow up and be a professional author. However, her sensible part was always screaming that she needed to get a proper job as people like her just could not make it as authors.
However, she just dabbled in writing for several years and it was not until she joined an adult education class in 2008 that she started taking her dream seriously. Elaine Everest who ran the class encouraged her to submit her work to publishers and she was thrilled to have one of her stories accepted.

Even when she started working as an exam invigilator, she continued to find time to write. She gravitated towards historical fiction since she had always loved history when she was growing up.

Whenever she was writing in the genre, she always felt in her element and this has come to be one of the strengths that has made her one of the best in the genre.

As for Francesca Capaldi’s journey towards publication, it was just as long and fraught with challenges like that of many other authors.
She never thought that as a working class girl with hardly any connections she could get anything published. When she finally graduated from college she got a proper job which she found ill fitting as all she wanted to do was write novels.

As soon as she got home, she used to get out her typewriter and write a few pages in her paranormal romance manuscript. But the rejections came thick and fast over the years even as the agents started telling her that what she was writing was getting better.

Back then she never believed any reader or publisher would have an interest in a book set in the north of the country. Still, she could not write with any authenticity about stories set in the South.

Her big break came when she was fired from her job for her thick accent and setting her stories in the north she wrote with bloody mindedness. When she finally sent her work to an agent she plainly said that this was just what they needed.

In 2019 she published “Danger for Daisy” and has never looked back since.

Francesca Capaldi’s novel “Heartbreak in the Valleys” is a compelling title set at a time when love stays strong even as the world is crumbling. The novel is set in the latter months of 1915, where Anwen Rhys is a young housemaid living a hard life in Dorcalon mining village in Wales.

She takes care of Sara, her beloved younger sister and her very ill mother all while ensuring that their drunken father does not unleash his temper on them. The only comfort that Anwen has is the love she has for Idris Hughes, her childhood sweetheart who left to go fight a war.

But Idris returns as a changed man rather than the innocent boy she had fallen in love with. He is more distant and harder and in no time at all, he has broken off their engagement. Her heart is well and truly broken when another tragedy visits her family and village of Dorcalon.

When Dorcalon has to deal with unimaginable pain from an explosion in the miones, Idris and Anwen have to put aside their differences as they seek to unite their small community. In the middle of the despair, Anwen hopes to find the happiness and hope she believes she deserves.

“War in the Valleys” by Francesca Capaldi is a novel set in 1916, where Violet Jones is a young mother having a difficult existence in the Rhymney Valley. She cares for baby Benjy and Clarice, her four year old son, while Charlie, her husband, fights in the Great War.

But then tragedy comes to her door making her life even harder than it was before. Even though they are nowhere near the battlefields, the effects of the First World War are taking their toll on Dorcalon, the small mining community.

Young men are losing their lives even as food is becoming scarce by the day. Violet’s family has very little money coming in and has to take care of two babies which means she has a hard time trying to make ends meet.

But the decision she makes to ease her burden might be the worst thing she ever made. As World War I batters the nation Violet is engaged in her own battle. She needs to protect herself and her children yet she is all alone in the world.

It is an emotional and captivating saga that brings tears to the eyes and tug on heartstrings.

Francesca Capaldi’s novel “Hope in the Valleys” is set during World War I in 1917. The community of villagers in Dorcalon continue to suffer from the aftereffects of the war. They are trying to stay hopeful but each day brings more sorrow as their fathers and sons die abroad.

One person who enjoys a lot of privilege in the community is the daughter of Herbert the mine manager, Elizabeth Meredith. But she does not like the privilege and would rather break free of all the expectations placed on her by her society.

She has fallen in love with Gwilym Owen, a local miner who has made her the happiest she has ever been. But then she is forced to choose between her family that does not approve of her love and the man she loves with her life.

Looking for an escape, she signs up to become a nurse and heads to the battlefields of France even though she is heartbroken at leaving her lover behind. Separated by the Great War and society, can Gwilym and Elizabeth ever find their way back and finally be together?