Santa Montefiore

Santa Montefiore (; born 2 February 1970) is a British author.

Early life Santa Montefiore was born Santa Palmer-Tomkinson on 2 February 1970 in Winchester. Her parents are Charles Palmer-Tomkinson, formerly High Sheriff of Hampshire, and Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson (née Dawson), of Anglo-Argentine background. The Palmer-Tomkinson family are substantial land-owners in Hampshire and Leicestershire. and charity patron.

Santa Montefiore said that growing up on the family farm gave her an "idyllic Swallows and Amazons childhood". She also describes her upbringing as "sheltered, Sloaney". She was educated at the Hanford School from the age of eight to twelve. She then attended Sherborne School for Girls in Dorset.

She counts as her literary influences The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas; House of Mirth by Edith Wharton; Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Mary Wesley, Eckhart Tolle, and Daphne du Maurier.

She converted to Judaism before the marriage. The wedding was held at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in St John's Wood, London, with which her husband's family has been associated for generations.

Works Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree (2001) The Butterfly Box (2002) The Forget-me-not Sonata (2003) The Swallow and the Hummingbird (2004) The Last Voyage of the Valentina (2005) The Gypsy Madonna (2006) Sea of Lost Love (2007) The French Gardener (2008) The Italian Matchmaker (2009) The Affair (2010) The House by the Sea (2011) The Summer House (2012) Secrets of the Lighthouse (2013) A Mother's Love (2013) The Beekeeper's Daughter (2014) Songs of Love and War (2015) (The first of The Deverill Chronicles) Daughters of Castle Deverill (2016) (The second of The Deverill Chronicles) Last Secret of the Deverills (2017) (The third of The Deverill Chronicles) The Temptation of Gracie (2018) The Secret Hours (2019) (the fourth of "The Deverill Chronicles") Here and Now (2020) Flappy Entertains (2021) The Distant Shores (2021) (The fifth of The Deverill Chronicles) ISBN 9781398500334 The Kiss (2022) Flappy Investigates (2023) ISBN 978-1398510760 An Italian Girl In Brooklyn (2023) ISBN 978-1471197109 Wait For Me (2024) Shadows In The Moonlight (2025) ISBN 978-1398720008