Cover Reveal: The Book That Should Have Been Lost

Over the moon to share with you the cover for my new novella The Book That Should Have Been Lost, another companion read to the Blood of Kings, Heart of Shadows historical fiction saga set in medieval Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia – today Romania, my birth country.

The Book That Should Have Been Lost – Some books tell history. One remembers the truth.

There are books that preserve stories.

There are books that shape kingdoms.

And then there is one that was never meant to be found.

The Book That Should Have Been Lost

Set in 1450 against the backdrop of medieval Transylvania and Moldavia, this novella follows fifteen-year-old Kate Webber as she journeys beside a very young Vlad Dracula, only 19. Their destination is the Saxon city of Kronstadt—today Brașov—where a mysterious manuscript has been hidden for generations beneath the watchful eye of an ancient network.

What begins as a dangerous mission soon becomes something far greater.

The manuscript they seek is unlike any ordinary chronicle. It does not merely record history—it remembers it. Its pages have passed from one guardian to the next for centuries, quietly preserving truths that powerful men would rather see forgotten.

If you read When Secrets Bloom you will be familiar with this omnious book. If not, read this book before The Book That Should Have Been Lost comes out.

As war gathers on Moldavia’s borders, every step towards the book draws Kate and Vlad deeper into a struggle that began long before either of them was born. Soon enough thy discover they are not the only ones searching.

Some believe the manuscript could change kingdoms.

Others believe it should be destroyed.

The Book That Should Have Been Lost is a companion story to When Secrets Bloom in the Blood of Kings, Heart of Shadows historical fiction saga, but it also stands alone as a tale of hidden histories, forgotten guardians, medieval printing presses, and the enduring power of memory.

They say history is often written by the victors.

But memory belongs to those who refuse to let the truth disappear.

I cannot wait to share Kate and Vlad’s journey with you.

Coming very, VERY soon to Amazon.

FOLLOW me on Amazon to be notified as soon as I release a new book. 🙂

Book cover design by Patricia Furstenberg with GIMP.

Model young woman photo by Lance Reis, downloaded from Unsplash on 11 June 2025, free to use under their license.

Background forest photo by Manuel Venturini, downloaded from Unsplash on 1 August 2026, free to use under their license.

Background model in the clouds, my own work.

Short historical note about Vlad Dracula:

One of the reasons I wanted to write The Book That Should Have Been Lost is that history leaves us with a fascinating silence concerning at least five years from Vlad Dracula’s youth.

We know that after Vlad Dracula’s brief first reign as Voivode of Wallachia in 1448, he sought refuge at the court of Bogdan II of Moldavia, who was likely his maternal uncle. Many historians believe Vlad’s mother Eupraxia of Moldavia, also historically referred to as Princess Cneajna) was Bogdan’s sister, making Stephen the Great Vlad’s cousin.

We also know that Vlad fought alongside Bogdan II and young Stephen (Stefan cel Mare) during the Battle of Crasna in 1450.

Other than that, however, the historical record grows frustratingly quiet.

We do know Vlad was eventually forced to leave the Moldavian court before reclaiming the Wallachian throne in 1456. He probably lived in Transylvania.

These years missing from the archives—when Vlad would have trained, lived, and fought others’ battles as well as following his dream—offered me the perfect space for fiction to meet history. The Book That Should Have Been Lost AND the forthcoming BOOK 3 in the sage imagine one possible story hidden within those lost pages of the past.