Francesca Capaldi Books in Order

Francesca Capaldi was born and brought up on the Sussex coast, a place that later found its way into her fiction. Her mother was Welsh and a natural storyteller, often making up tales as she went. That early mix of family stories, the sea, and a love of history gave Capaldi plenty to work with.

She wanted to write from an early age, but it took time to turn that wish into a career. Like many writers, she kept at it alongside everyday life, writing stories and learning what worked on the page.

History has always been a big part of the picture. Capaldi is a history graduate with a particular interest in social history, and that interest shows in the details of her novels: difficult jobs, tight-knit communities, changing expectations for women, and the way major events reach into ordinary homes.

Her first published book was Danger for Daisy, a compact romantic mystery first released as a pocket novel. It follows Daisy Morgan, who swaps Christmas plans for an archaeological dig on a remote island, only to find that the place holds more danger than she expected. Capaldi also wrote several other pocket novels and has had short stories published in magazines in Britain and abroad.

A meeting with an editor at a Romantic Novelists' Association conference in 2019 led to her first contract for a full-length novel, Heartbreak in the Valleys. That book began the Wartime in the Valleys sequence, set in the fictional Welsh mining village of Dorcalon during the First World War. It was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists' Association Historical Award in 2021.

The series grew because Dorcalon had more than one story to tell. War in the Valleys, Hope in the Valleys, and Trouble in the Valleys return to the same community, following women dealing with family pressure, loss, work, romance, gossip, and the long shadow of war. Readers who like a strong sense of place and a cast that carries from one book to the next will find plenty to settle into.

Capaldi later returned to the Sussex coast with the Beach Hotel novels. Beginning with A New Start at the Beach Hotel, the series follows staff and guests at a Littlehampton hotel as war changes their lives. The first book won the Romantic Novelists' Association Romantic Saga Award in 2024.

She also writes under her married name, Francesca Burgess. Her work ranges from historical romantic sagas to contemporary fiction and short stories, but community, friendship, secrets, and people trying to make a better life remain familiar threads.

Capaldi lives in Kent with her family and a cat called Lando Calrissian.