The Secret Year of Zara Holt

Inspired by the extraordinary life of fashion designer and businesswoman Dame Zara Bate, this is a vibrant and compelling novel of fashion, passion, love and loss.

Melbourne, 1927. The summer flowers smell like Christmas the night Zara Dickins meets Harry Holt. Zara is wearing a dress she has designed herself—white organdie over a short black slip, embroidered in black, tied with a crimson taffeta sash. It is party season and the university crowd are celebrating the end of exams. Zara loves dancing and flirting, but it has always been just a game. Until Harry.

He plans to be a politician once he finishes law. She dreams of becoming a fashion designer, if only she can escape the secretarial pool. When he takes her hand, she doesn’t want to let him go. The spark they ignite that night will burn for forty years.

Portsea, 1967. When Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming, his wife Zara is left with the memories of their volatile, passionate life together. She always believed Harry when he said he would never leave. Their bond had survived distance, scandal, heartbreak, and media scrutiny. But now all Zara wants is for Harry to come home.

From bestselling author Kimberley Freeman comes a richly imagined story of love, scandal, betrayal, and one captivating woman’s fierce and passionate life.