When You Loved Me
now in bookstores
A love story steeped in New England legend.
A young widow returns to her late father’s New England estate, only to be drawn into the hunt for the rumored pirate treasure that consumed his life, in this thrilling and moving new novel from Beatriz Williams.
Local history insists that a legendary pirate buried his treasure somewhere beneath Windward, the decayed Cooper estate on Winthrop Island, but Lucy Cooper never trusted the fable that broke her family apart. When a widowed Lucy returns with her young daughter to grieve her estranged father, she discovers catastrophe: the property’s mired in debt she can’t repay, and Ben Ressler has unexpectedly turned up on her doorstep.
Thirteen summers ago, a teenaged Lucy never meant to fall in love with Ben, a Dartmouth football star vacationing nearby at the Peabody estate, and the object of an all-consuming crush by Laura Peabody, Lucy’s best friend. Those few weeks were the best and worst of Lucy’s life, dooming her friendship with Laura. Now Ben’s returned to live quietly in the Peabodys’ caretaker lodge, after a fatal accident ended his dazzling NFL career. He’s also the last person who saw Lucy’s father alive.
As Lucy reconstructs her father’s troubling final days, she uncovers his research on the frozen winter of 1717, when a desperately wounded pirate sought refuge on Winthrop Island with an enigmatic healer. To Lucy, this history points the way to a different kind of treasure: how to heal the fractures of the past and earn a second chance at love. But just as Lucy’s long-buried emotions sear to the surface, a shocking turn of events reveals that someone else on the island will do whatever it takes to claim the fabled plunder.
A timeless story of love and atonement, When You Loved Me maps both a centuries-old treasure hunt and the intimate territory of the human heart, weaving together past and present as only Beatriz Williams can.
An instant USA Today bestseller
Praise for When You Loved Me
“Rich details set the stage in each of the timelines, with compelling characters and lots of plot strings that, in Williams’ deft hands, all weave together in a supremely satisfying read.”
Booklist (starred review)
“…[E]ngaging, fascinating, moving and, above all, entertaining. This is Beatriz Williams at her best.”
BookReporter.com (Bets On pick)
Click here to view interview with BookReporter
“An utterly transporting novel, When You Loved me is a perfect showcase of Beatriz Williams’s trademarks: richly drawn characters, buried secrets that echo across generations, and the kind of emotional and moral complexity that lingers long after the final page. One of the most gorgeous love stories I’ve read in a long time.”
Emily Giffin, New York Times bestselling author of Love You More
“A beautifully woven story of passion, survival, and buried treasure in all its forms. When You Loved Me will both warm and open your heart. I absolutely loved it.”
Annabel Monaghan, New York Times bestselling author Dolly All the Time
“This book had me in a chokehold with one of the best first chapters I’ve ever read. EVER…This will be one of the most talked-about books this summer. Expect to see it everywhere. It is that good.”
@livingmybookishlife on Instagram
“Genuinely one of the best books I’ve ever read.”
@emilysbooknook8 on Instagram
“The best binge. I was hooked extremely fast and I could not put this book down. I swooned, I laughed, I cried…I also felt like I could SEE this adapted into a film while I was reading it.”
@youhavetoreadthisnow on Instagram
“Beatriz Williams has rapidly ascended my list of favorite authors, and her latest novel…further secures her place among the finest storytellers of our time…”When You Loved Me” is not just a story—it’s an immersive experience that challenges and delights, leaving readers pondering long after the final page is turned.”
@lawofcraft_reads on Instagram
“The way Beatriz weaves stories is everything to me. The first chapter shocked me, but you better believe that I was invested…A combination of historical fiction, contemporary fiction, mystery, romance…it has everything.”
@hsumanityreads on Instagram
“Beatriz Williams’ When You Loved Me completely derailed my reading plans because once I started it, there was honestly no chance I was putting it down…This book feels like salty ocean air, old family secrets, heartbreak you never fully recover from, and that strange ache that comes from seeing someone again who once meant everything to you.”
@bookscoffeebrews on Instagram
Totally Booked with Zibby
Hear Beatriz speak with Zibby Owens about WHEN YOU LOVED ME.
BookReporter Talks To...
Watch Beatriz speak to Carol Fitzgerald of BookReporter about WHEN YOU LOVED ME.
Book Club Kit
View and print your book club kit with suggested discussion questions, a letter from the author, and a guide to the families of Winthrop Island.
