About the Book
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-based Vichy government. Audrey joins Charles DeGaulle’s resistance army, the French Foreign Legion, while Monique stays to work in the underground resistance aiding the Allied invasion of North Africa.
In 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?
Excerpt from the Book:
“Fi? Find?”
Mimi’s head bobbed up and down.
“Find what?”
“Mom, can she write it out?”
“Maybe, I’ll grab some paper and a pen.” Mom rushed to the counter, retrieved the items, and grabbed a book to set them on. She placed the items on Mimi’s lap, putting the pen in Mimi’s hand.
“Mimi, try to write it down for us,” Nicole said.
As Nicole held the paper steady, Mimi scrawled the word “Find” with a shaky hand.
“Okay, we got that one right, but find what?”
Again, Mimi’s trembling hand worked to form some letters.
“Is that a ‘d’? Dirt? Dinner?”
Mimi shook her head and continued.
“D. E. S?”
“You want dessert?” Nicole glanced at Mom. “Mom, do you have anything for dessert?”
Mimi shook her head again but continued to force her shaking hand to cooperate.
“D. E. S. E. R. T. Desert?” Nicole hated to see Mimi in such distress. Surely, whatever she had to say was important to her.
Mimi pointed to the first word, then the second.
“Find desert?” How could she not? “Of course, I’ll find the desert. You mean the Sahara? You know, ninety percent of it is in Algeria.”
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About the Author
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.