WHEN YOU LOVED ME by Beatriz Williams

This Review Originally Appeared in the August 2026 edition of The Historical Novels Review.

Author Beatriz Williams’ fourth novel set on fictional Winthrop Island at the “far edge of Long Island” explores lost love and historical events in multiple timelines. Lucy returns to the island after more than a decade’s absence when her father, whose life’s work was hunting for lost pirate treasure, is presumed drowned. Coincidentally, her long-ago summer love, Ben, is now on the island, lying low in the aftermath of a brutal hit that ended his professional football career, and he happens to be the last person who saw Lucy’s father alive. Lucy takes over as the island schoolteacher as she confronts a mountain of debt left by her father and tries to unravel his research findings.

The best part of the book is the historical mystery at the root of Lucy’s father’s pirate legend research. In the early 18th century, Hephzibah recorded, in her diary, events on Winthrop Island during the Great Snow in the winter of 1717. Lucy has to fill in gaps in the diary and with her father’s research to determine whether Hephzibah interacted with notorious pirate Ned Ramsay and his treasure. The historical scenes are period-perfect and immersive. Lucy’s first-person account reveals her destructive youthful love triangle with her best friend Laura and Ben, and her complicated family dynamics. The personal demons and sorrows of Lucy, her father, Laura, and Ben are explored with depth.

While the contemporary plot makes some leaps (e.g., “the best free safety” playing in the NFL walks away to become a landscaper), pacing is crisp and features many twists and turns. Some love scenes are rendered on the racy side. All in all, a great summer reading choice for fans of multiple timeline stories with elements of romance, suspense and historical mystery.