GILL PAUL is an author of historical fiction, specializing in relatively recent history. She has written two novels about the last Russian royal family: The Secret Wife, published in 2016, which tells the story of cavalry officer Dmitri Malama and Grand Duchess Tatiana, the second daughter of Russia’s last Tsar; and The Lost Daughter, published in August 2019, the story of Grand Duchess Maria, Tsar Nicolas II’s third daughter.

Gill’s other novels include Another Woman’s Husband, about links you may not have been aware of between Wallis Simpson, later Duchess of Windsor, and Diana, Princess of Wales; Women and Children First, about a young steward who works on the Titanic; The Affair, set in Rome in 1961–62 as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton fall in love while making Cleopatra; and No Place for a Lady, about two Victorian sisters who travel to the Crimean Peninsula during the war there in 1854–56 and face challenges beyond anything they could have imagined.

Gill also writes historical nonfiction. Her titles include A History of Medicine in 50 Objects and the Love Stories series, which contains tales of real-life couples. Published around the world, the series includes Royal Love Stories, World War I Love Stories, and Titanic Love Stories.

Gill was born in Glasgow and grew up there, apart from an eventful year at school in the United States when she was ten. She studied medicine at Glasgow University, then English literature and history. (She was a student for a long time.)

She now lives in London, where as well as writing full-time, she swims year-round in an outdoor pond, complete with a heron, a variety of ducks, and a family of kingfishers.

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About the Book

A Deleted Scene from The Lost Daughter

Ekaterinburg, June 19, 1918

ONE MORNING, just after the family’s scripture reading, Ivan Kharitonov, the cook, put his head around the door of the sitting room and said in a low voice, “Excuse me, Miss Maria. Might I have a word?”

She frowned. What could he want? Putting down her sketchbook, she rose and followed him out to the passageway that led to the kitchen.

He looked over his shoulder before fishing an envelope from the pocket of his white chef’s apron. “This came an hour ago. It was in the wooden box in which the nuns deliver our food, hidden beneath the butter.”

Maria took the rather dog-eared envelope and saw her name written in English on the outside, along with the words Strictly private and personal. How very odd!

“Thank you, Ivan.” She smiled. “I appreciate your discretion.”

She considered taking it back into the sitting room, but then she would have to pass it around for all to read. Since she had no idea who could have written it or what it might say, she decided to open it on her own in the girls’ bedroom.