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A novel about a group English cousins at the eve of WWII and what happened to them in the war, with flash forwards to the present day. We see much of the action through the eyes of Sophy, kind of the odd girl out because she's much younger than the others and because of her Anglo-Eurasian race. As in other England at war novels, the war gives these young people opportunities for adventures - sexual ones - that they wouldn't have had in conservative pre-war days. There are some interesting twists in their emotional lives and several of the characters end up in places they never expected to go. I like that one of the women who finds herself behaving unconventionally is a woman in her 40s who had been the model of a good wife.
I have some quibbles with some of the plot - there's a dramatic subplot that doesn't go anywhere either plot-wise or emotionally, and nearly every character is revealed to have some sexual quirk. What a family! I had some skepticism about how the story ends, too, but I admit that it is simply a door opening to possibilities and not a "they lived happily ever after" false note.
I have some quibbles with some of the plot - there's a dramatic subplot that doesn't go anywhere either plot-wise or emotionally, and nearly every character is revealed to have some sexual quirk. What a family! I had some skepticism about how the story ends, too, but I admit that it is simply a door opening to possibilities and not a "they lived happily ever after" false note.
