I've read Kate Morton previously - The House at river ton - so, when I was this one on the library shelf, I homed in.
The tale begins in London just before the outbreak of WWII, with young Dorothy (Dolly) Smitham dreaming of a life of fame and fortune far from her suburban childhood. Her ambitions are huge and she's single minded about pursuing them. She's in love with Jimmy and he shares her dreams, although he's not so sure about her methods.
Dolly weaves her dreams as she cares for an elderly aristocratic lady through the Blitz and tries to befriend a rich neighbour when they both volunteer at the local Red Cross canteen. After two disastrous misconceptions, Dolly's optimism turns to thoughts of revenge and she involves Jimmy in her plans. But Jimmy is less than enthusiastic and, gradually, finds himself involved in secrets that put himself, and others, at serious risk. Dolly's dreams end in tragedy.
30 years later Dolly's teenage daughter, Laurel, witnesses a violent and brutal death, which haunts her for the rest of her life.
In the present day Dolly is now an old woman, dying and haunted by events in her past and Laurel sets out to search out her mother's secrets. Are they connected with the death she witnessed? And who was Vivien Jenkins?
The story is told in a series of flashbacks - a common story-telling method nowadays, which can work well in building tensions and suspense. The risk, however, is that the reader looses the thread of the story and fails to build any relationship with the characters. Kate Morton handles this complicated method with aplomb. Whilst we can begin to guess at the ending of the story towards the final chapters, Ms Morton carefully crafts a number of possibilities, which keeps the readers attention until the final page. Recommended.
Published by mantle-panmacmillan, ISBN 978-0-230-75950-3
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