A life of set routine is the norm for Raymond Smith. Now in his mid-thirties, a fleeting wartime romance far behind him, he is an exemplary clerk at a London insurance firm where he's perceived as dry and conventional.

But Raymond has a secret. Every month or so, he visits Charlie's, one of the more understated bars in Soho's flowering gay scene in the 1930s. There, he seeks relief with strangers to get him through the next few weeks. 

On one of these visits, he encounters suave David Carstairs, a well-travelled linguist with the Foreign Office. Rather than a brief encounter, David offers him friendship and even affection. Despite Raymond's misgivings, the two men, with their contrasting backgrounds and experiences, start to form a bond in the spring of 1936 as Europe inexorably begins to march towards war. 

Will Raymond fearfully reject this chance of happiness? Or can he unbend enough to allow David into his heart and life?



Ellie Thomas lives by the sea, usually in a state of complete chaos. She has an unhealthy obsession with history and loves to both read and write about many historical periods. She comes from a teaching background and, as well as writing, she bakes on demand for next door's children. When she manages to wrestle herself away from her computer and her kitchen, she loves to dance.



Ellie Thomas mainly writes historical romances.