The De Witt Family Books

In the idyllic early summer of 1914, life is good for the de Witt family. Rudolf and Verena are planning the wedding of their daughter Emmeline, while their eldest son, Arthur, is studying in Paris, and Michael is just back from his first term at Cambridge. Celia, the youngest of the de Witt children, is on the brink of adulthood and secretly dreams of escaping her carefully mapped-out future and exploring the world.But the onslaught of war changes everything and soon the de Witts find themselves sidelined and in danger of losing everything they hold dear. As Celia struggles to make sense of the changing world around her, she lies about her age to join the war effort and finds herself embroiled in a complex plot that puts not only herself but those she loves in danger.With gripping detail and brilliant empathy, Kate Williams tells the story of Celia and her family as they are shunned by a society that previously embraced them, torn apart by sorrow, and buffeted and changed by the storms of war.

For fans of DOWNTON ABBEY and ATONEMENT - a compelling historical saga from TV historian and bestselling author of THE STORMS OF WAR, Kate Williams. .In the aftermath of the Great War, the de Witt family are struggling to piece together the shattered fragments of their lives.Rudolf and his wife Verena, still reeling from the loss of their second son, don't know how to function in the post-war world. Stoneythorpe Hall has become an empty shell with no servants to ensure its upkeep.Celia, the de Witt's youngest daughter, is still desperate to spread her wings and see more of the world. To escape Stoneythorpe and the painful secrets that lie there, she moves to London and embraces life and love in the Roaring Twenties.

A sweeping and gloriously moving novel of love, war and change in 1930s Europe and America from a brilliant young storyteller recognized on both sides of the Atlantic as “an outstanding new talent” who ranks among the “queens of contemporary fiction.” Kate Williams’s The House of Shadows is the concluding volume in the Storms of War, a groundbreaking, cinematic trilogy that tells the story of the de Witt family from 1914 to 1939—perfect for fans of Downton Abbey , The Paris Wife and The Rules of Civility .