When You Loved Me: A Novel
Jun 2026 · Sold by Ballantine Books
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About this ebook
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A young widow returns to her late father’s New England estate, only to be drawn into the hunt for the rumored pirate treasure that consumed his life, in this thrilling and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Husbands & Lovers.
“Utterly transporting . . . one of the most gorgeous love stories I’ve read in a long time.”—Emily Giffin
Local history insists that a legendary pirate buried his treasure somewhere beneath Windward, the decayed Cooper estate on Winthrop Island, but Lucy Cooper never trusted the fable that broke her family apart. When a widowed Lucy returns with her young daughter to grieve her estranged father, she discovers catastrophe: The property is mired in debt she canʼt repay, and Ben Ressler has unexpectedly turned up on her doorstep.
Thirteen summers ago, the teenaged Lucy never meant to fall in love with Ben, a Dartmouth football star vacationing nearby at the Peabody estate and the object of an all-consuming crush by Laura Peabody, Lucy’s best friend. Those few weeks were the best and worst of Lucy’s life, dooming her friendship with Laura. Now, after a fatal accident ended his dazzling NFL career, Ben has returned to live quietly in the Peabodys’ caretaker lodge. He’s also the last person who saw Lucy’s father alive.
As Lucy reconstructs her father’s troubling final days, she uncovers his research on the frozen winter of 1717, when a desperately wounded pirate sought refuge on Winthrop Island with an enigmatic healer. To Lucy, this history points the way to a different kind of treasure: how to heal from the fractures of the past and earn a second chance at love. But just as Lucy’s long-buried emotions sear to the surface, a shocking turn of events reveals that someone else on the island will do whatever it takes to claim the fabled plunder.
A timeless story of love and atonement, When You Loved Me maps both a centuries-old treasure hunt and the intimate territory of the human heart, weaving together past and present as only Beatriz Williams can.
“Utterly transporting . . . one of the most gorgeous love stories I’ve read in a long time.”—Emily Giffin
Local history insists that a legendary pirate buried his treasure somewhere beneath Windward, the decayed Cooper estate on Winthrop Island, but Lucy Cooper never trusted the fable that broke her family apart. When a widowed Lucy returns with her young daughter to grieve her estranged father, she discovers catastrophe: The property is mired in debt she canʼt repay, and Ben Ressler has unexpectedly turned up on her doorstep.
Thirteen summers ago, the teenaged Lucy never meant to fall in love with Ben, a Dartmouth football star vacationing nearby at the Peabody estate and the object of an all-consuming crush by Laura Peabody, Lucy’s best friend. Those few weeks were the best and worst of Lucy’s life, dooming her friendship with Laura. Now, after a fatal accident ended his dazzling NFL career, Ben has returned to live quietly in the Peabodys’ caretaker lodge. He’s also the last person who saw Lucy’s father alive.
As Lucy reconstructs her father’s troubling final days, she uncovers his research on the frozen winter of 1717, when a desperately wounded pirate sought refuge on Winthrop Island with an enigmatic healer. To Lucy, this history points the way to a different kind of treasure: how to heal from the fractures of the past and earn a second chance at love. But just as Lucy’s long-buried emotions sear to the surface, a shocking turn of events reveals that someone else on the island will do whatever it takes to claim the fabled plunder.
A timeless story of love and atonement, When You Loved Me maps both a centuries-old treasure hunt and the intimate territory of the human heart, weaving together past and present as only Beatriz Williams can.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A young widow returns to her late father’s New England estate, only to be drawn into the hunt for the rumored pirate treasure that consumed his life, in this thrilling and moving novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Husbands & Lovers.
“Utterly transporting . ...
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Ratings and reviews
3 reviews
Paula Pugh
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June 23, 2026
An absolutely engrossing novel of fractured relationships, of pirates, island lore, and hidden treasure, and of second chances at romance. The relationship of Ben and Lucy is enchanting and from a teenage romance that ended at odds. They have a chance to recapture their love but so many problems stand in the way. Delightfully adding to the story is Lucy’s seven year old precocious daughter who fills the pages with intelligence beyond her years. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy.
Debbie ballard
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June 23, 2026
Loved reading. the. fabulous. and fantastic story. When Lucy and her daughter inherit her father's house, she finds out her dad owes a lot of money and her ex-boyfriend, Ben, is her neighbor and one who found her dad's clothes near the beach. Read. the highly recommended, wonderfully written full of twists and turns, and a must read riveting story with captivating characters.
Hal Kid Jr.
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September 8, 2026
Three stories, three time periods. With tragedy, murder, romance, and pirate treasure. What more could you ask for?
About the author
Beatriz Williams is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Husbands & Lovers and many other novels, including four in collaboration with bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in finance from Columbia University, Williams has won numerous awards for her fiction, which has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children.
Beatriz Williams is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Husbands & Lovers and many other novels, including four in collaboration with bestselling authors Karen White and Lauren Willig. A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in finance from Columbia University, Will...
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