Beautiful Truth

Catherine never knew her father. A Polish exile, he disappeared when she was a small child, leaving her only a pair of binoculars and a lifelong love of the stars. Now in her forties, she leads a settled academic life in Cambridge - until one day she receives a letter with a Polish postmark from an American film-maker who is in Krakow to research the wartime experiences of his aunt. What Konrad has uncovered will send Catherine on a voyage of discovery not only into Poland's past, but into her own history. And what she uncovers there will change her life in ways she could not possibly have imagined.

“This poignant epic is a real page-turner . . . a mesmerising, well-crafted novel”

Clearly well-researched and engrossing narrative . . . beautifully written - Bookbag.co.uk

Moving and insightful . . . Young, courageous and frightened Krystyna in 1939 seems just as alive as confused, middle-aged Catherine in present day. Though the two never met, how their stories intertwine reveals the tragic yet beautiful truth of secret pasts - Press Association

Praise for Hotel Juliet:

'Africa and aviation, red dust and wide, white skies . . . this romance will soon dispel those January blues . . . A thrillingly observant writer and crafter of highly sensual prose, Seaward employs the language and lore of the skies to considerable metaphorical effect . . . its richly descriptive escapism is seductive' - Daily Mail

Hotel Juliet is a breathtaking work and a deeply moving elegy to the transitory nature of family life - Scotland on Sunday

A gripping evocation of love and passion amid the wild African landscape - Sainsbury's Magazine

- Birmingham Evening Mail

A cinematic novel of breadth and beauty, love and aviation. Superbly written, the author's descriptions, particularly of masculinity, smells and voodoo are possessed of an almost ineffable resonance. - The Argus

Hotel Juliet very quietly binds a spell on the reader and I found it unusual and absorbing - Shropshire Star

Belinda Seaward began her career as a journalist. She has also spent time on a coffee plantation in Zambia and in the Middle East and now lives and works in Devon, where she has raised two Arab horses. HOTEL JULIET, her previous novel, is also published by John Murray. You can follow Belinda on Twitter at @belindasea.

Catherine never knew her father. A Polish exile, he disappeared when she was a small child, leaving her only a pair of binoculars and a lifelong love of the stars. Now in her forties, she leads a settled academic life in Cambridge - until one day she receives a letter with a Polish postmark from an American film-maker who is in Krakow to research the wartime experiences of his aunt. What Konrad has uncovered will send Catherine on a voyage of discovery not only into Poland's past, but into her own history. And what she uncovers there will change her life in ways she could not possibly have imagined.

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