Constance

A novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Iris and Ruby.

Connie Thorne was a foundling, a child left by her mother for strangers to find. Forty years on, without ever being able to discover her true identity, she has put all her energy into creating a flawless shell for herself.

As a child, she was musical, her sister Jeanette was deaf. One of them was dark, the other sunny. Yet they both fell in love with the same man. And her feelings for Bill, Jeanette's husband, are the one part of herself that Connie can never reshape.

When she hears the news that her sister is dying, the last thing Connie wants is to leave her Bali home and return to London. But with the bitterness of betrayal still between them, Connie and Jeanette have to learn to forgive each other.

Surrounded by family, can Constance make her peace with who she really is – and who she loves?

Reviews

Praise for Constance:

‘Rosie Thomas tells a good human story with compassion and style’ Choice

‘From an intrepid, challenge-taking writer comes this story of sisterly rifts and betrayal’ Good Housekeeping

‘Uplifting tale of love and betrayal from the romantic novelist of the year’ Daily Mirror

'Heart-rending and beautifully written…I read it in one delicious go, tears pouring down my face. You cannot fail to be moved' Emma Lee-Potter, Express

'A lush and sweeping voyage of self-discovery' Eithne Farry, Daily Mail

‘Prepare to be dazzled…an epic tale of sisterhood and betrayal’ Company

‘A terrific book, beautifully written… questions about identity, belonging, infidelity, dying and forgiveness make this a very moving study of the human heart’ Australian Women’s Weekly

Praise for Rosie Thomas:

‘Rosie Thomas writes with beautiful, effortless prose, and shows a rare compassion and a real understanding of the nature of love’ The Times

‘Honest and absorbing, Rosie Thomas mixes the bitter and the hopeful with the knowledge that the human heart is far more complicated than any rule suggests’ Mail on Sunday

‘A master storyteller’ Cosmopolitan

‘Thomas’s novels are beautifully written. This one is a treat’ Marie Claire

About the author

Rosie Thomas is the author of a number of celebrated novels, including the bestsellers The Kashmir Shawl, Sun at Midnight, Iris and Ruby and Constance. Once she was established as a writer and her children were grown, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica and travelled the silk road through Asia. She lives in London.