Where the Sea Lavender Grows by Kitty Johnson

Where the Sea Lavender Grows

A Novel

Kitty Johnson

Amazon Publishing · Print & ebook · May 1, 2026

A woman restoring a historic cottage on the English coast uncovers a startling connection to the past in a haunting and bittersweet novel about art, loss, and love by the author of Closest Kept.

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Who it’s for
Readers interested in historical fiction centered on World War II and its aftermath
Themes
loss, love, historical mystery
Pacing
Steady

About this book

A woman restoring a historic cottage on the English coast uncovers a startling connection to the past in a haunting and bittersweet novel about art, loss, and love by the author of Closest Kept. Elise, an artist grieving the loss of her son and a fracturing marriage, is in North Norfolk to restore Marsh House to its former glory, its walls adorned with the fading murals and paintings of its long-ago owner, Lilias Carter-Brown.

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Elise makes an immediate connection to the house, to Sam—a carpenter and a comfort—and to history itself when an old photograph draws Elise into Lilias’s heartbreaking past. In 1939, with war threatening, Lilias and her sister turn Marsh House into a sanctuary for London evacuees—a young boy and his mother. But it’s the boy’s father, Harry, an enlistee soon to report for duty, with whom Lilias forms an unexpected and intimate bond. When Harry suddenly vanishes without a trace, it changes the course of Lilias’s life forever. Now, as Elise and Sam work to solve the mystery of the disappearance, the restoration of Marsh House is bringing Elise back to life as well—to love again, to put her and Lilias’s pasts to rest, and to finally move on.

Who it’s for

  • Readers interested in historical fiction centered on World War II and its aftermath
  • Readers who enjoy stories about family secrets and personal restoration

Where it sits

World War II & Holocaust64%
20th-Century Historical Romance53%
Multiple-Timeline Fiction36%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • World War II & Holocaust
  • 20th-Century Historical Romance
  • Women's Fiction
Authors
Kitty Johnson
Publisher
Amazon Publishing
Published
May 1, 2026
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
loss · love · historical mystery
Reading lane
World War II & Holocaust