If I Could Tell You

Jan 13, 2026 4:50 AM

Author:Elizabeth Wilhide

If I Could Tell You

'Heart-wrenching . . . intoxicating . . . a very English Anna Karenina' The Times

'Vivid, candid, engaging. So honest' Helen Dunmore

Suffolk, 1939: Julia Compton has a beautifully well-ordered life. Once a promising musician, she now has a handsome husband who pays the bills, a young son she adores and a housekeeper who takes care of her comfortable home. Then on the eve of war something unexpected happens. She falls in love.

The consequences are devastating. Cut off from family and friends, Julia loses everything. Penniless, denied access to her son, completely unequipped to fend for herself, she is cast adrift in wartime London with her bohemian filmmaker lover Dougie. As invasion looms and the bombs rain down her struggle is only beginning.

While Dougie seeks truth wherever he can find it, Julia finds herself lost. Before long, ruined and broken, she faces a choice - succumb to her fate, or fight to forge a new identity in the heat of war.

Reviews

Heart-wrenching . . . convincing and intoxicating . . . Julia is a very English Anna Karenina . . . An unromantic love story that feels honest and searing.

—— Times

What makes this story stand out is its absolute honesty. There is no false sentimentality, plenty of unflinching observation and some excellent writing . . . her detail is truly superb. Wartime Britain has been rarely so skilfully evoked.

—— Daily Mail

Beautifully observed and written, I loved it.

—— Woman and Home

Vivid, candid, engaging. So honest.

—— Helen Dunmore

Elizabeth Wilhide writes about universal emotions with great tenderness and imagination.

—— Claire Fuller

I adored this book . . . touching and very compelling.

—— Penny Vincenzi on Ashenden

A rich and absorbing social history

—— Financial Times on Ashenden

Wilhide excels at minor social details. Well-observed.

—— Times Literary Supplement on Ashenden

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