Lost Autumn

MacColl’s captivating, seamless historical (after Falling Snow) imagines a web of secrets connecting an elderly Australian author with the English royal family. In 1920, 17-year-old Australian Maddie Bright gets a job as a correspondence secretary on the staff of the prince of Wales as the prince tours that continent. In chapters alternating between 1997, 1920, and 1918, MacColl slowly illuminates the connections between Maddie and others on the tour through a birth out of wedlock, war, and marriage. During her employ, she dances with the prince at a ball in Perth, and is also captivated by the story of Helen Burns, who saved the life of fellow royal staffer Rupert Waters during WWI, after he was injured in France. In 1997, London journalist Victoria Byrd flies to Australia at the request of Maddie, now known as M.A. Bright and the reclusive author of a popular novel inspired by Helen and Rupert’s story. Maddie has promised to release a sequel, but has more on her mind than the book when talking to Victoria, who Maddie wishes to meet after learning more about the aftermath of the time she, Helen, and Rupert spent with the prince. MacColl’s impressive attention to detail integrates historical research with lyrical psychological realism. Fans of historicals will find this saga riveting. Agent: Dan Lazar, Writer’s House. (Mar.)