The Dark of the Moon

By: Fiona Valpy

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik, Angus Yellowlees

From the bestselling author of The Dressmaker’s Gift comes an unforgettable story of wartime courage, enduring love, and a decades-long search for the truth...

In 1943, Philly Delaney would do anything to help win the war. As one of the brave "Attagirls" ferrying military aircraft across Britain, she never expected to fall in love with Ben, a dashing Spitfire pilot. But their whirlwind romance is interrupted when her talent for solving cryptic crosswords leads her to Bletchley Park's legendary codebreakers.

Soon, Philly's skills make her the perfect candidate for a perilous mission into Nazi-occupied France. But when Ben's plane vanishes during a similar covert flight, her world shatters. Despite searching for decades, she's never discovered what happened to the only man she ever loved.

Now in her nineties and staying on the beautiful Île de Ré, Philly has all but given up hope. But in young Finn, her hosts' mathematically brilliant but struggling son, she finds an unexpected ally. As she shares her extraordinary story, they discover that some lost things are waiting to be found–and that love's power to heal never dims with time.

A wonderfully immersive, atmospheric and moving story of wartime resilience, hope, loss—and the enduring power of love.

©2025 by Fiona Valpy. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

‘The novel is well researched and full of fascinating information about codebreaking and the French resistance, and Finn’s voice makes it come alive.’—Historical Novels Review

‘The Dark of the Moon is an involving and very touching read. It offers readers a fascinating exploration of a too-little-known element of Bletchley Park history and a moving personal story. The present day narrative interweaves cleverly with the past and I was gripped throughout.’—Anna Stuart, author of The Midwife of Auschwitz

‘The Dark of the Moon is a dazzling and tremendously moving story about love, courage, and the importance of finding answers. Told from the points of view of ATA pilot and Bletchley Park codebreaker Philly Delaney and Finn, her friends’ young son who helps Philly as she tries to locate her husband’s final resting place, this gorgeous novel is both a tale of wartime daring and bravery as well as a tender exploration of grief. Fiona’s beautiful prose brings the characters and their struggles into vivid perspective and the settings in Britain and on sunny Île de Ré off the coast of France are wonderfully immersive. Atmospheric and thoroughly captivating, I couldn’t put it down!’—Linda Wilgus, author of The Sea Child

Best of Valpy’s works!

I love Fiona Valpy’s works, and I think this may be her best one! The story is captivating and the performance by the narrators is outstanding! If I could give it 10 stars I would!

Beautiful story

THE DARK OF THE MOON is a very well-researched and impressively written historical novel. I'll enjoy re-reading it again, as I do my favorites.

The dark side of the moon

I found that the world war 2 information very interesting . I was a young child at that time . i live on the west coast of California and remember the air raids!Finn being autistic was interesting to learn more about Autism.

A rare find on Amazon First Reads

While the themes of this book were very similar to others written in the last few years, the novel was so well written and performed that I gave it a rare (from me) five star rating.