Lorna Cook Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Lorna Cook is a bestselling and award winning novelist, former PR professional and journalist. She left the world of journalism and public relations to become an author of novels full of history, romance, secrets and intrigue.

Her debut novel “The Forgotten Village” was a blockbuster as it became a Kindle bestseller over the first two weeks after publishing and sold more than 150,000 copies. It would go on to spend more than four months on the Top 100 List on Kindle.

It has also won the Romance Novelists of America Joan Hessayon Award, and the Debut Romance Novel of the Year Award by RNA. It has also been published in more than a dozen languages across the world.

Cook currently makes her home in coastal Essex, where she lives with her family consisting of her husband and two small children and their dog. When she is not writing her novels, she can usually be found enjoying a good book with a glass of wine.

She is a member of the New Writers’ Scheme by the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Cook has always considered herself a natural storyteller but her journey to publication was an arduous one. She wrote her first unpublished manuscript in 2016, which was a pretty bad historical romance title.

However, she learned a lot from writing the novel and having some professionals critique it, that she was able to iron out several major issues with her writing. Some of the mistakes she used to make during this time included head hoping, which she has now completely removed from her writing.

It was while she was writing her first manuscript that she had the idea for her debut novel “Forgotten Village.” Once she was done writing her debut manuscript, she filed it away and began working on “The Forgotten Village” in 2017.

She had just recently joined the Romance Novelists’ Association and wanted to submit something before the August deadline for the Writers’ Scheme. She was fortunate enough to meet several agents once she did her submissions.

One of these was AM Heath’s Becky Ritchie, who would become instrumental in getting her published. Three months after landing her agent, she published in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Lorna Cook has always loved dual timeline authors and this eccentric genre has always been a favorite. She still remembers when she read “The House at Riverton” by Kate Morton, an author that she would come to adore.

She is also addicted to the works of Liz Fenwick who just like her is a member of the Romance Novelists Association as she finds her work to be very seductive. Collectively, all dual authors including Rachel Hore, Lucinda Riley and the above mentioned have been a huge inspiration in her career.

Even though she currently just likes to write her novels in the dual timeline mode, she has not ruled out one day writing pure historical or contemporary novels. Still, the dual timeline will always be her go to when it comes to her writing.

“The Forgotten Village” by Lorna Cook is set in 1943 and 2017 and oscillates between the two timelines.
In 1943, the entire globe was in the grip of a war and the Tyneham villagers were asked to give up their homes to be used by the British Army for the sake of their way of life. But on the eve of the handover, there is a terrible act that results in three of the villagers going missing, not to be seen again.
Fast forward to 2017 and we meet Melissa, a girl visiting the Dorset coast hoping that time away would be the rekindling her stagnant relationship needed. Even though it is an idyllic spot, it does seem to be pushing the lovebirds to the brink of a breakup.

When Melissa stumbles upon a strange photo of a woman that once made her home in Tyneham, she turns into a woman obsessed with learning about her life story. But Tyneham has a terrible secret and as she searches for the truth it changes her life in unimaginable ways.

It is a brilliant dual timeline story that will suck one in and get them on the edge of their seat right from the first page to the last.

Lorna Cook’s novel “The Forbidden Promise” is set in 1940 Scotland and eighty years later in 2020. In 1940 war was raging in Europe even though Invermoray House had never experienced more peace.

But on the eve of Constance’s twenty-first birthday shye witnesses a spitfire crashing into the local lake. She has always been a young woman that desired adventure. She makes a promise to the pilot to hide him but it may cost her a lot, especially if he is discovered.

Fast forward to 2020 and Kate is ayoung woman just arriving at Invermoray for a luxury bed and breakfast experience. But what she finds is that the place is in more trouble than she could have ever imagined.

She soon learns of the troubled history of the place, which includes the striking of Constance McLay’s name from its record. Intrigued, she is determined to get to the root of the mystery before she leaves.

It is a lovely dual timeline narrative in which the lives of two women years apart may be changed by a single promise.

Lorna Cook’s novel “The Girl from the Island” opens to a world at war in 1940 and fast forwards to 2016.

In 1940 the Nazis invade the island of Guernsey and two sisters are determined to fight them off using nay means at their disposal. But then they are forced to harbor a German soldier and realize he is their childhood friend turned into a Nazi.

Fast forward to 2016 and Lucy is back on the island after a distant cousin’s death. Preparing the old family house so that she can put it up for sale, she finds a box full of handwritten notes. Of all the pacers, the word “resistance” in one of the notes stands out from the rest.

Her search for the author of the note results in her unearthing a thrilling story of a long forgotten sister who went missing from Guernsey one night and was never seen again.

One Response to “Lorna Cook”

1. Helena: 2 years ago

   Is there a sequel to The Girl from the Island? Did Dido and Werner marry and what happened to them?

   Reply