Santa Montefiore Books In Order

Publication Order of Deverill Chronicles Books

Publication Order of The Royal Rabbits of London Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Santa Montefiore born Santa Palmer-Tomkinson is a British-Argentine writer best known for writing romantic thriller novels. She had always wanted to write professionally ever since she was a child and would graduate from reading children short stories to naïve love stories as she aged. At age twelve, she attended the Sherborne School for Girls where she was terrible at practically everything except for English, in which she was always the best in the class. She would frequently write up stories pairing up her friends with the boys they fancied from the Sherborne Boy’s School just across the fence. Her friends loved the stories, and fancying herself one of the greatest novelists that ever lived, she submitted them to a publisher only to be rejected. When she turned 19, her mother organized a teaching job for her on an Argentine Pampa, where she was to be tutor to three young children. The time that she spent in Argentine turned out to be some of the best things that her parents ever did for her. She fell in love with the country and made it her second home, even setting several of her novels there.

In 1998, she married Simon Sebag Montefiore the writer and historian in a Jewish wedding. They met through historian Andrew Roberts, who believed they were made for each other, given that of all the people he knew, they were the only two that could recite the Evita by heart. Santa Montefiore believes that they complete each other even as they are so different. Simon is more of a philosophical man with no interest for the outdoors, while Santa has always been enchanted by the outdoors and never saw herself settling with a man who could not even contemplate skiing. They now write from the same house with Santa on the top floor and Simon on the ground floor. Just like his wife, Simon is a critically acclaimed writer with his historical novels such as Jerusalem, Young Stalin, and the Court of Red Star receiving some of the highest accolades in the literary world. Besides being the sister to the socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, the couple is also fast friends with the Queen of Netherlands Maxima, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall and the Prince of Wales. Montefiore lives in London with her husband and two children, Sasha and Lily, but the family also frequents a cottage in the Hampshire countryside where she grew up. Her house, which features on many of her novels, is a seventeenth century farmhouse with lovely ancient bluebell trees and stunning gardens that burst into a blaze of color during spring.

Santa’s stay in Argentina greatly influenced her perspective in life and her writing. She loved the country with its humid flat plains, countryside rich with gardenia and eucalyptus, and the sound of the farmlands, which she cherishes to this day. She spent so much time there that she would come to feel that it was more home than England ever could be. She would leave Argentina and go back to England for a holiday, only to come back and discover that she no longer fit in. Most of her friends that she had made during her yearlong stay in Argentina either had boyfriends, had moved to the States for further studies, or had simply lost the taste for going down to the farm instead preferring their new lives in the city. With no friends and nothing to get up to in the morning, she felt something akin to alienation as she cried all the way home to England. What she did not know at the time was that she just had found the basis for her first novel. She was able to channel her longing, regret, and nostalgia into her first novel that struck a chord with many readers, even as it was one of the most trying moments of her life.

Most of Montefiore’s novels touching, magical and remarkable as they are, are a combination of real life experiences/stories and some fiction. The stories, plots, and characters that she writes about from the first novel Meet Me Under Ombu Tree and the other novels that followed are a sum of her experiences. Most of the characters in the novels have to deal with many painful experiences that the author asserts are important as a nostalgic way of reliving the past and making sense of the present. Nonetheless, the books are written to touch people on a spiritual and emotional level even as they entertain. While her very first novel was set in Argentina, her preceding novels have been in Chile, France, and Italy, countries that tend to have the same herb scented, balmy, and warm breezes just like Argentina. She has also done one of her novels in the wild beaches of Connemara, Ireland for its melancholy, gothic, and haunting tone that were missing in the other novels.

Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree is the unforgettable, evocative, and moving tale of forgiveness and love. It follows the lives of the Solanas family living in the tumultuous years of political turmoil in Argentina. Sofia Solanas is the lead character, a proud, resourceful, wilful, spoilt daughter of Argentine nobility. She lives on an expansive ranch and has been brought up under the spiritual practices of the gauchos, and the time-honored traditions of her highborn parents. Everybody seems to love Sofia except for Anna, her Irish mother who visits her sense of inadequacy and alienation on her daughter. When Sofia gets into a steamy love affair that her mother believes would disgrace the family if it ever came out, she banishes Sofia to Europe. By sending her away, she inadvertently exiles the daughter not only from her soul mate for over a decade but also from her family.

Songs of Love and War is the first novel of the Deverill Chronicles. The novel is an epic tale of three women of the Deverill Castle in West Cork, Ireland. The women Kitty Deverill the daughter of the lord of the castle, Celia Deverill her English cousin, and Bridie Doyle the daughter of the castle’s cook. The three girls who have become fast friends while living together in the castle, suddenly find their idyllic lives threatened as the struggle for Ireland’s independence reaches fever pitch. One of Britain’s last bastions in Ireland, the castle is in danger of being overrun, as the war closes in on it. Kitty finds herself torn between her love for Ireland and Jack O’Leary the rebel and her Anglo Irish roots. Betrayal finally wins and their world goes up in flames, with their friendship hanging by a thread after they scatter to different parts of the world. Yet all of them have one hope to get back what they had – the unwavering love for Deverill Castle and the memories they had made in it.

5 Responses to “Santa Montefiore”

1. Linda Russotti: 10 months ago

   I just finished reading The French Gardener. What a marvelous story.I loved how you weaved the two stories together. The descriptions of the gardens and the cottage made me want to go and visit. I look forward to reading more of your stories.

   Reply
2. Gloria Dawn Smith: 1 year ago

   Having read all your books, I love Meet me under the Ombu tree most, for the pull on one’s heartstrings. I love all your stories, The Beekeeper’s Daughter would be my second choice, but they are all wonderful and it is hard to choose a favorite.
   Thank you for the hours of pleasure you have given with your books.

   Reply
3. Elaine Barnes: 2 years ago

   Have spent many a happy hour lost in your stories.I have read some more than once and still found myself anticipating what will happen next?
   Can not wait for the new releases.

   Reply
4. Rebecca Kennedy: 2 years ago

   I have really enjoyed The Girl in the Castle series. I’m currently listening to the Secrets of the Lighthouse. In this particular book the Lord’s name is irreverently & inappropriately used in vain. Surely another phrase could have been used. Remember, God is watching!

   Reply
5. Paul de Stoop: 2 years ago

   Your first book , Meet me under the Omfu Tree. I just couldn’t put it down.

   Reply