Stella Carlyle is a successful singer. Quirky, talented, abrasive, sexy, she has serial casual lovers until she falls in love with Robert - an equally successful eye surgeon. But Robert is married, and the strain of their long-standing affair is beginning to tell on both. American ex-fighter pilot Spencer McColl - 'overpaid, oversexed and over here' in World War II - had an affair with an English widow. But it was her daughter he really loved, and on a brief return visit to commemorate the war veterans, their one-night stand leads to a daughter - Stella - whom Spencer never knows. Harry Latimer, a captain in the Hussars, is posted to the Crimea and leaving behind the family home in Wiltshire, and an undeclared passion for his widowed sister-in-law. Their contrasting experiences - Harry amid the squalor and brutality of war, Rachel in the tranquil Wiltshire landscape - make a poignant third strand to the narrative.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The latest doorstop from Harrison (The Flowers of the Field) is a triptych, the individual stories linked to a millennia-old chalk horse outlined on a grassy hill on an English country estate. First in the trio of protagonists is cavalry officer Harry Latimer, who falls in love with his brother's wife before heading off to war in the Crimea in the 1850s. Then we have Spencer McColl, an American from Wyoming, whose service during WWII takes him to England, where he meets a woman he never forgets, causing him to return decades later. Finally, in the 1990s, there's Stella Carlyle, a singer struggling with both her career and her long-running relationship with a married man. Usually a crowd-pleaser, Harrison wallows in some extreme sentimentality here, her story replete with questionable platitudes ("Never wish for freedom.... You might get it") and garden-variety wisdom delivered in self-important tones ("love's such a hard taskmaster"). There's also a lot of narrative space devoted to horses in general and the mythic horse in particular. Because the three stories are linked solely by the conceit of the horse, readers may wonder if these are really just three separate tales that couldn't stand on their own, cobbled together to make one seemingly complete and overlong effort. Those who pick this up believing it is a family saga will be gravely disappointed; Harrison's faithful fans may be more forgiving and hope for greener pastures next time out.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Hussar captain Harry Latimer is sent to the brutal Crimean front, leaving behind his family's Wiltshire estate and the widowed sister-in-law he loves. Spencer McColl, an American fighter pilot from Wyoming, is sent to England during World War II and has an affair with an English widow, though he's really in love with her blossoming young daughter. Stella Carlyle, an edgy, talented rock star who works too hard and plays even harder, is in love with a married doctor, and their longstanding affair is showing signs of wear when she suddenly becomes pregnant. Three central characters, three loves, and three seemingly unrelated stories set far apart in time play themselves out until Harrison (That Was Then) slowly reveals the links that draw the characters together over the centuries. Her cinematic story has it all: history, war, passion, love, and heartbreaking loss. For readers who love sinking their teeth into sweeping sagas, this latest offering from popular British novelist Harrison is just the thing. A deft weaving of time, place, history, and powerful emotion, this makes perfect vacation reading for avid Anglophiles. Recommended for all fiction collections. Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
for horse lovers and Sarah Harrisons faithful fans,
This review is from: The Grass Memorial (Hardcover)
Overlooking the English village of Church Norton is a leaping horse carved into the hillside many centuries ago. That ancient steed has been the silent observer of the human condition.In the 1850s, Harry Latimer falls in love with his brother's wife Rachel. A cavalry officer, he sets off for some forsaken place in the Crimea to insure the sun never sets on the English Empire. In the 1960s, Wyoming resident Spencer returns to England where he fought during World War II. Spencer needs closure to the greatest moments of his life when he gave his heart and soul to Janet. Singer Stella Carlyle reflects on her life that is marked in her mind by a series of failures. She wonders about her failing music career and even worse her relationship with a married man that is going nowhere. The Horse and other steeds link these three novellas, but outside of that and locale they have little in common. Though well written, the book is an apparent parable of life using birth, death and rebirth of horses to symbolize mortality. However, the plots seem disjointed and over blown so that except for horse lovers and Sarah Harrison's faithful fans, most readers will find the tales too difficult to connect with on any level. Harriet Klausner
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