From Publishers Weekly
In the small mining town of Hillsbridge, the locale of Tanner's previous, well-received novels ( The Hours of Light ; The Emerald Valley ) the reverberations of WW II are felt in various ways by members of the Hall family. Some of the extended clan are called to service in 1939, foreshadowing the devastating Battle of Britain; some shelter evacuee urchins from bombed-out London. But the love story of Barbara and Huw is the narrative's focus. They are companions from childhood, when abused orphan Huw was taken in by Barbara's parents. When their friendship ripens into love, Huw learns that he might be Barbara's illegitimate half-brother. Stunned, Huw joins the RAF, but the secret is kept from Barbara, who eventually enters an ill-starred marriage. Although a certain amount of melodrama precedes the lovers' reunion, this well-told story holds the reader's attention.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Returning to England's coal mining country, Tanner continues the family saga begun in Hours of Light (LJ 8/81) and continued in Emerald Valley (LJ 8/86). This novel spans the grim years of World War II. The heroine is rebellious, gutsy Barbara, "on the brink of womanhood" and tormented by an apparently hopeless love for her adopted brother, Alec, a Battle of Britain pilot. Well-done vignettes of disruptions wrought by the war and its aftermath add to the flavor. However, what will attract readers, including older YAs, is not history, but the complex, interrelated, and tempestous lives of the characters. In the tradition of the genre, adultery, incest, depravity, and infertility--not to mention the scourge of Nazism--are among the trials which they face and, mostly, overcome. No matter that coincidences and misunderstandings require a generous suspension of belief or that characterizations are none too probing. Somehow, readers come to care, shed a tear, and read on. This can be read on its own.
- Libby K. White, Schenectady Cty. P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Libby K. White, Schenectady Cty. P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
