One orchard, two hearts, and a season’s gamble that could bind them forever.
Herefordshire, England, 1763: the year Parliament’s new cider tax threatens to crush England’s orchard keepers.
Elizabeth Whitcombe has weathered frost, debt, and the quiet condescension of men who think a widow should sell her orchard and fade away. But when a Crown assessor arrives to enforce the hated tax, she must outwit the law itself, armed only with a stillroom’s craft and a ledger’s worth of stubborn resolve.
Nathaniel Carter has crossed the Atlantic carrying secrets and scars he swore he’d never confess. Drawn not only to the Whitcombe orchard’s wild beauty, but to the woman who keeps it alive, he finds himself risking far more than coin or reputation. When a single forged folio buys them only three days’ grace, their fates entwine in a dangerous wager of trust and desire.
As winter grafts turn bare branches toward spring, Elizabeth and Nathaniel must decide what they are willing to risk: the orchard they’ve fought to save, the fragile family they are building, or the love that could root them both.
The Cider Maker’s Secret is a slow-burn historical romance of resilience and redemption, where hope takes root in wounded ground and the sweetest harvest is love itself.
