Australian author Pip Williams has a new novel coming in 2026, and we have the cover reveal!
The German Ward is the latest work from Pip, and it is coming out on 29 September 2026.
Pip Williams was born in London, England, but moved with her family to Sydney at just three years of age. She has long been interested in the creative arts, and in fact, one of her first published works was a poem in Dolly magazine.
After at first wanting to pursue fashion, she pivoted and studied science, psychology and sociology at university. She later earned a PhD in public health as she wanted to improve equality for women and for people living with a disability. She worked as a social researcher at the University of South Adelaide, but continued to dabble in writing, publishing creative non-fiction in The Australian and InDaily.
Her debut novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, was published in March 202. She wrote most of it in the State Library of South Australia, which has a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book in the title!
It won several awards, including General Fiction Book of the Year in the Australian Book Industry Awards and was selected for Reese Witherspoons Book Club. The Dictionary of Lost Words has since been adapted for the stage, and a television series is in production.
“I could never have anticipated the love my book would receive from readers all over the world,” Pip said of the adaptation news. “It’s been thrilling and humbling, and when readers have got in touch to ask when it will be adapted to screen, it’s felt completely surreal—I never dared to dream so big.”
She followed it up with The Bookbinder of Jericho in 2023. Like her debut, it is also set in Oxford, England, and she spent time there to add authenticity to her novels. In fact, it is described as a companion novel to her debut. It also won the General Fiction Book of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards in May, 2024.
Pip Williams’ latest novel, coming out on 29 September 2026, is The German Ward. Like her previous novels, it too is historical fiction and is in the same world as her other books. However, according to the release, it is a “story about desire.”
Set in France, 1915, an English nurse and a German doctor (and prisoner of war) fall in love. Their forbidden love is “visceral”, “urgent”, but tragically, “doomed”. Their affair would have been unknown if it weren’t for drawings found more than a century later.
The story also centres on the woman who discovers the drawings of their dalliance and is intrigued, and tries to solve the mystery of who they are and what became of them.
Check out the cover reveal below:
‘Some characters insist you tell their story,” said Pip of her latest novel. “Tilda Taylor – actress, suffragette and difficult woman – is one of them. But when I began to write it, I realised her story was not what I thought it would be. It has surprised me, moved me and made me blush. Now that it is written, I can’t wait to share it.’
If you love historical romance, add it to your to-read list and check out our recommendations here.
Find out more about The German Ward and Pip Williams here. The German Ward releases on 29 September 2026.
