Celebrate Lit / September 22, 2026

Secrets of the Desert Rose

About the Book Secrets of the Desert Rose

Book: Secrets of the Desert Rose

Author: Marilyn Turk

Genre: Dual Timeline

Release Date: February 24, 2026

Three Women. Two generations. Their friendship survived the war. Their secret survived even longer.

Monique and Audrey, one French and one British, grow up in French Algiers on the coast of the sparkling Mediterranean Sea. Best friends, they keep each other’s secrets into adulthood when World War II changes their world and Algiers sides with the Hitler-backed Vichy government. Audrey joins Charles de Gaulle’s resistance army, the French Foreign Legion, while Monique stays to work in the underground resistance aiding the Allied invasion of North Africa.

In the present day, American-born great-granddaughter Nicole, a graduate student in archaeology, goes to North Africa for an internship. The now centenarian Monique (Mimi), debilitated by a stroke, urges her to find the Desert Rose. Nicole finds different types of desert roses, but none are the right one until she stumbles onto information that hints the desert rose might not be a flower after all. While Sami, her instructor in Algiers, helps her find the desert rose, he also has to protect her from people who want the heirloom ring Nicole wears, which has its own secret.

Will Nicole find the secret before it’s too late?

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My Thoughts on Secrets of the Desert Rose

Secrets of the Desert Rose is an amazing dual-timeline novel that spans present-day and WWII history in Algiers. I loved getting to know Nicole, Monique, and Audrey.

We have a daughter named Audry, and she is very much a tall blonde with blue eyes, which made me smile while reading. I’m more like Monique, being not quite five foot though my hair is more of a red than a dark color. Oh, and adoption is part of my story. I’ll let you read the novel to figure out where adoption and chosen families come in there.

Nicole is our modern-day heroine. She’s an archaeologist in training and goes to Algiers to achieve two goals. One is to see where her Mimi grew up and what her life was like. The other is to be involved in those digs that go back absolutely forever!

Mimi is Monique. She’s one of our WWII main characters, though the story starts when she’s around 10 years old. It’s fun to see how she lived as a French officer’s daughter in Algiers. And then to see how it all changed when the Germans took over during the war. Monique does her bit as much as she can for the cause.

Audrey is British. Her parents aren’t wonderful like Monique’s, but I do feel they did love her in their own way. On vacation when they’re young, Audrey and Monique become fast friends. Then Audrey lives with Monique so she can attend the convent school near her. After that amazing and fun time, Audrey goes off to do other things, but the girls stay in touch.

Monique’s father dies, and war comes.

Their worlds are no longer the same, and they both take different paths to contribute to the Allied cause however they can. They are still able to communicate through a secret spot where they drop notes with the help of Matazan, who you will meet and love as I did.

There is also a mystery of the ring that Nicole has from her Mimi. That brings danger and suspense. Oh, and you’ll meet Sami, who is the guide for Nicole in Algiers. It’s a wonderful novel, and I loved the bits and bobs of history that were thrown throughout the story.

I’m a history geek, and WWII is one of my main areas of focus. I loved that this novel focused more on the African side of the war and what happened not just with the armies, medical, and natives, but also the civilians and the French.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

About the Author of Secrets of the Desert Rose

Award-winning author Marilyn Turk has written over twenty historical and contemporary novels and novellas laced with suspense and romance. She especially likes writing World War II-era books, and loves to discover information not widely known for her stories. In addition to fiction, Marilyn is also an annual contributor to Guideposts’ Walking in Grace and other Guideposts anthologies.

Marilyn enjoys helping other writers and founded the Blue Lake Christian Writers Conference. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Faith, Hope and Love Christian Writers, AWSA, Word Weavers International and the United States Lighthouse Society.

Marilyn’s most recent books have been Secrets of the Desert Rose, The Escape Game set in World War II, and a novella, The Gilding of Minnie Tucker, set in the Gilded Age.

She and her husband Chuck have a blended family of four sons, one daughter and four grandsons whom they enjoy spending time with. Marilyn and Chuck are lighthouse enthusiasts and have visited over 100 lighthouses in the United States and other countries. They also served as volunteer lighthouse caretakers at Little River Light off the coast of Maine. As a result of her interest in lighthouses, Marilyn wrote Lighthouse Devotions: 52 Inspiring Lighthouse Stories.

More from Marilyn

Why did I write Secrets of the Desert Rose by Marilyn Turk

Because I enjoy reading novels set during World War II, I also enjoy writing them. Most of the novels I’ve read are set in Europe – England, France, and surrounding countries. But we know the war impacted the whole world, so I look for stories set in places we don’t know much about.

Why did I set this book in North Africa?

My sister-in-law’s mother was French and was born and lived in Algiers until sometime during World War II. Unfortunately, I waited too long to ask her about it, even though she lived to the age of 94. However, she left journals which gave insight into her life in Algiers and opened my eyes to what happened there before and during World War II. Monique is modelled on her stories.

While researching Algiers, though, I came across another woman who was British and also played a role in North Africa during the war. Her name was Susan Travers, and her autobiography provided more interesting information. Although the two real women may have never met, her life was the basis for Audrey’s character.

I always find historical surprises when I research a novel, and discovering the story of Cleopatra Selene was fascinating to me, so I had to include her in the book as well. And since there was so much secrecy involved in the true stories, I thought my characters needed secrets of their own, and my present-day character, Nicole, would have to discover them.