The main
characters in this story are Emilie de la Martiniéres and
Constance Carruthers. The story alternates
between the 1990s and 1943/44. It opens with Emilie who is finalising the
affairs of her mother’s estate. Emilie,
an only child, has inherited the family fortune, including a chateau in the
South of France. Emilie’s parents had always
seemed distant to her. Her father, who
was a lot older than her mother, died when she was young and her mother was too
busy socialising to give Emilie any attention.
Emilie had turned her back on her aristocracy ancestry to forge a career
as a vet. In the opening chapters, I found the character
of Emilie too gullible and a little unbelievable. However, her character does improve once the
story progresses. Emilie is finding the
prospect of sorting out the chateau daunting and, when she meets Sebastian
Carruthers, he feels like her knight in shining armour. He tells her that his grandmother knew Emilie’s
family.
In 1943, Constance
Carruthers, a young office clerk, is drafted into the Special Operations
Executive and arrives in occupied Paris.
Unfortunately the members of the resistance team she is meant to be
helping have disbanded or been arrested by the Gestapo. She ends up at a safe house belonging to Edouard
de
la Martiniéres and is forced to masquerade as Edouard’s cousin
for her own safety and his.
As Emilie
sorts out the family affairs and begins to unravel the family’s past she eventually
discovers how Sebastian’s family and hers are connected.
The end
was tied up a little too neatly for me, but I found it didn’t detract from my
enjoyment of the story. It was an easy
enjoyable read.
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