From Publishers Weekly
Part romance and part character study, Harrod-Eagles's very British tale evokes a time chronologically close to, but startlingly different from, our own with nary an anachronism. In 1954, George West glimpses a beautiful 17-year-old girl on horseback over the Dorset Downs. Josella Grace, he learns, has background, brains and beauty—but also emotional scars from a mysterious childhood. George accepts a decade of Jo's brief and unpredictable visits without complaint while creating a stable (if otherwise abstinent) life. Jo is blithely rootless, renaming and reinventing herself—as a temporary London switchboard operator, the gofer for an Edinburgh theatrical troupe and the lover of a brooding boatbuilder—until several painful episodes reveal both her essential loneliness and her abiding love for George. Though deftly portrayed and counterpointed, neither George's passivity nor Jo's promiscuity creates much narrative drive. The cause of Jo's skittishness, when finally revealed, may also feel flat or old-fashioned to contemporary readers used to novels hinged on lurid traumas. Still, Harrod-Eagles (Julia) captures an unusual personality and a complex period beautifully. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
*Starred Review* Award-winning author Harrod-Eagles once again turns her substantial talents to a period romance--this time with a suspenseful twist--and creates vivid characters, an enthralling plot, and realistic ambience. It's the early 1950s, and Britain is still recovering from World War II. George West--ambitious, university-educated, and determined to overcome his working-class background--is finishing his stint in the National Service when he meets 17-year-old Josella Grace. He immediately falls in love with the beautiful, spirited young girl; even the discovery that she is the daughter of his regimental commander, the daunting Colonel Grace, can't dent George's adoration. He would like nothing better than to marry Jo, even though there is an element of dark mysteriousness about her character that he can't penetrate. Jo refuses to settle down, preferring to wander Britain, living like a gypsy. Then, in a shocking revelation, Colonel Grace imparts a terrible secret about Jo's past. Moving between 1954, when George first meets Jo, and 1964, when the tale reaches a shattering climax, this dramatic, taut, and gripping romance is real treat for Harrod-Eagles fans old and new. Emily Melton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
![The Colonel's Daughter by [Cynthia Harrod-Eagles]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51mRHskmkeL._SY346_.jpg)
