The Duke’s
Secret

The Duke’s Secret by Sue Williams delivers a sweeping dual narrative – one set amid the grandeur and turmoil of early 19th-century England, the other unfolding in modern-day Australia, interlacing two women’s lives across time.

At the heart of it is Mary Ann, a young maid serving in a stately home, who forms an unlikely bond with a dashing – and married – British army officer. Their friendship deepens into a moment of forbidden passion on the eve of his departure to war. Years later, the officer returns victorious from the Battle of Waterloo and is granted the title Duke of Wellington.

But his triumph is shadowed by the complex personal reckoning that awaits him: a wife and two sons at home, and the secret family he left behind – Mary Ann and their illegitimate daughter, Elizabeth.

Parallel to this, the contemporary narrative follows an Australian woman who reunites with her long-lost father and hears an astonishing family legend – that they are descendants of the maid who once captured the heart of the Duke. Determined to uncover the truth, she embarks on a journey that leads her deep into the past.

Tied into this is the author’s own family legend spun from the fact that one of their antecedents was a maid in Wellington’s household, had a child out of wedlock and, uniquely from those times, was not thrown out for bringing shame on her employers.

Beautifully blending history and the present, The Duke’s Secret brings together passion, betrayal, and the quest for truth across two hundred years.

The Duke’s Secret is published by Allen and Unwin in February 2026 as a print book (rrp $34.99), e-book and audio book.