An audio book.
The action jumps back and forth in time, starting on Xmas eve 1999 with Evey taking grandmother Kate to church. Kate's been a widow for 30 years. Then it's back to WWII, London. In 1946 Stella's family moves to Berlin. Her handsome father is fancied by the maid. Her mother dresses up one evening and returns late, flushed, her husband unconcerned. Then 1918 - Thea is going on a ship with Jack to South Africa. She recalls nursing in France.
Will is in Cairo, recalling 30 years before when he was there. He'd been about 20 and an older woman, Jacqueline, picked him up for sex. He'd received a phone call from mother Kate - his father Lawrence had died of a heart attack. He'd become a soldier. Jacqueline had told her that she was preganant. Will returns every so often to see his daughter Evie. Jacqueline is a TV reviewer of books. Will regularly writes Evie letters (we see some, and Evie's replies)
Stella, Will's sister, 59 and childless (but she's had several lovers), does charity babysitting and adult teaching. She volunteers to help with a school trip to France. We learn about the Norman cemetaries. She meets a man there (Alan, a Canadian doctor) and sleeps with him. She dumps the guy she was sleeping with in England and soon goes to visit Alan.
Evie met Mick in Italy but it didn't last. She has a son Raf.
At 5, Kate was sent to South Africa by Dulse, the woman who's been looking after her, to join Thea, Dulse's sister. Kate didn't adapt well.
Grandmother Kate gets a letter in 1999 from someone she doesn't know saying that there are family secrets. Turns out that Dulse, who died in 1952, was Kate's mother. This sparks off childhood memories in Kate. She goes through old photos.
We learn about the problems with the natives in South Africa. We get Jack's death scene in a field.
Will won the Military Cross in the Falklands. Later he becomes a travel writer. He and young Raf have a good day in London. Will's regiment no longer exists but they still have yearly reunions. He meets a widow there, visits her later.
Evie may have to choose between 40+ Owen (kind, policeman) or son Raf - the 2 don't get on. On a day out, Owen saves a boy from a dog, attracting admiration. They've known each other 2 years. She decides to marry him.
Heritage (unfaithfulness) gives women excuses for their behaviour. Kate thinks back to the night in Berlin - Stella maybe guessed about unfaithfulness, and her father's implicit forgiveness
While Stella's looking after a child in a playground, the child has an accident and spends a night in hospital. He's ok and the mother doesn't blame her. She decides to spend Xmas in Canada.
Will is rejected by a friendly woman because of his lack of family feelings at Xmas. He goes to Heidelberg, then decides to fly back suddenly to see his family. The woman is impressed - there's hope yet.
I liked how various relationships were contrasted. I like "willows trembled and creaked like galleons at anchor".
Many of the epidodes seem too long. When the walk in the French graveyards seemed too drag I wondered if the whole France trip was worth including.
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