First published 1984
The celebrations have ended. War consumes Europe from 1939 to 1945. Constance practices Freudian analysis with professional skill, yet passion strikes her for the first time. Her sister Livia once enjoyed an perfect final summer, now lost to memory. That tragic, doomed woman haunts the present alongside other figures who emerge from the borderland between reality and imagination. Prince Hassad moves unpredictably through their lives. Rob Sutcliffe, rough and shambling, finally meets his creator Aubrey Blanford in a crucial confrontation. The action moves between three cities as old relationships evolve in new directions. Constance must navigate her awakening desires while the world burns around her. The patterns established in earlier times now play out against a backdrop of global conflict and personal revelation.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction, psychological-thriller
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Europe
Period: 1939-1945
393 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books
Content warnings: war