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Deborah Swift

21 fiction

Deborah Swift is a British historical novelist whose fiction ranges from seventeenth-century England and Renaissance Italy to the Second World War. Before becoming a novelist she worked as a set and costume designer for theatre and television, including BBC productions, and later completed an MA in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. She now combines writing with teaching and lives near the Lake District, where local historic houses and landscapes have influenced some of her settings. Her early novels include The Lady’s Slipper, set in Restoration-era Westmorland amid Quaker persecution and disputes over a rare orchid; The Gilded Lily, which follows two sisters into the dangerous world of Restoration London; and A Divided Inheritance, beginning in Jacobean London before moving to Spain and exploring religion, inheritance and swordsmanship.

Swift has subsequently written several distinct strands of historical fiction. Her Highway Trilogy is a young-adult series set during the English Civil Wars, while her Women of Pepys’ Diary novels, including Pleasing Mr Pepys, reconstruct the lives of women recorded by Samuel Pepys and offer an alternative perspective on Restoration London. Her Giulia Tofana series begins with The Poison Keeper and follows the legendary Italian poisoner through seventeenth-century Naples, Rome and Venice, with The Fortune Keeper continuing the story through Tofana’s daughter. Swift has also written extensively about the Second World War in novels including Past Encounters, The Occupation, The Lifeline, The Silk Code and The Shadow Network. Her latest novel, The Enemy’s Wife, is set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in 1941. Across these books she frequently concentrates on women whose lives are only partially preserved in the historical record, using documented events as the framework for stories about survival, divided loyalties and individuals navigating periods of political and social upheaval.

Periods and events

Special Operations Executive1940–1946 CE British Home Front during World War II1939–1945 CE Great Fire of London1666 CE Restoration London1660–1685 CE Commonwealth and Protectorate1649–1660 CE Great Plague of London1665–1666 CE

Historical fiction

Historical fiction series by Deborah Swift (7 series)

Ww2 Occupation Series in Order

by Deborah Swift 3 books 4.4(14,242)

The WW2 Occupation novels examine how war reaches civilians far from the conventional front line. The Occupation is set in German-occupied Jersey and follows a divided household pulled into resistance. The Lifeline moves between occupied Norway and Shetland, linking the teachers’ resistance to the clandestine maritime routes of…

Ww2 Secret Agent in Order

by Deborah Swift 3 books 4.4(11,280)

The WW2 Secret Agent series follows Nancy Callaghan and code expert Tom Lockwood through the covert war against Nazi Germany. The Silk Code begins in 1943 with SOE communications and the Englandspiel disaster; The Shadow Network broadens the world to black propaganda and the Political Warfare Executive; Operation…

Giulia Tofana in Order

by Deborah Swift 4 books 4.3(11,811)

The Giulia Tofana series reimagines the legendary poisoner against the courts, convents, workshops and political intrigues of seventeenth-century Italy. Beginning with Giulia’s flight to Naples, the sequence follows her attempts to survive a reputation built around Aqua Tofana while protecting those closest to her. Later volumes carry the…

17th Century Women in Order

by Deborah Swift 2 books 4.2(4,833)

Deborah Swift’s 17th Century Women novels follow women whose private choices collide with the religious, social and economic upheavals of Restoration England. The Lady’s Slipper begins in rural Westmorland, where an artist’s attempt to protect a rare flower draws her into a Quaker household and a chain of…

Survivors of War in Order

by Deborah Swift 2 books 4.3(2,403)

Survivors of War follows Zofia and the people drawn into her life as the Second World War spreads across eastern Europe and Asia. Last Train to Freedom begins in Lithuania in 1940, where escape depends on Japanese transit visas and a dangerous journey across the Soviet Union. The…

Women of Pepys’ Diary in Order

by Deborah Swift 3 books 4.3(1,403)

The Women of Pepys’ Diary series retells Restoration London through women who appear in Samuel Pepys’s diary but are usually seen only through his perspective. Pleasing Mr Pepys places Deb Willet and Elisabeth Pepys at the centre; A Plague on Mr Pepys follows Elizabeth Bagwell during the Great…

The Highway Trilogy in Order

by Deborah Swift 3 books 4.1(2,333)

The Highway Trilogy is a young-adult sequence set during the final years and aftermath of the English Civil Wars. It centres on Abigail and Ralph Chaplin and on Lady Katherine Fanshawe, a fictionalised version of Katherine Ferrers, whose later legend associated her with the ‘Wicked Lady’ highwaywoman. The…

Historical fiction

Standalone historical fiction by Deborah Swift (1 book)

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