From Publishers Weekly
As in At the Going Down of the Sun, Darrell portrays the Sheridans, an English clan whose alienation from each other increases during WW II. The serenity of his estate in the village of Tarrant Royal doesn't soothe Sir Christopher Sheridan, an esthete accused by his wife, Marion, of ignoring the family's needs. Training secret agents does absorb Chris, whose son, David, becomes an RAF fighter pilot. Although many revere Chris's intellect, David despises his father for briefly deserting him and Marion years ago. Additional problems befall David after he accidentally shoots down a colleague's plane, so he transfers to Singapore, where Japanese invaders endanger his life. David's sister, Vesta, was a gullible idealist before a suitor mistreated her. Scorning all men, Vesta joins the army and witnesses horrifying carnage, an experience that leaves her more disillusioned and determined to resist a beguiling journalist's romantic overtures. Instead of using war as a mere backdrop, Darrell brilliantly shows how its exigencies and perils transform the characters' personalities. Detailed historical sidelights add to the novel's appeal.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The saga of the aristocratic Sheridan family began in the World War I drama At the Going Down of the Sun. Now World War II has broken out, and Chris Sheridan is called again to military intelligence work, which he must keep secret from his increasingly estranged wife, Marion. Their son and daughter also enter the war effort. Dissatisfied, rakish David joins the Royal Air Force, while Vesta, an army corporal and a gifted painter, brings to life on canvas the war in the Middle East. How Chris, David, and Vesta eventually find love despite, or perhaps because of, the horrors of war is a vivid, enthralling story. The reader comes to care deeply about them and experiences with them the terrible toll war takes on those fighting and those left behind. A beautiful and moving historical romance that skillfully blends fact and fiction. A.M.B. Amantia, Population Crisis Committee Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.