A real curate’s egg, if that is the right expression. Half (or less page wise) is set in France in 1916 and reminded me a lot of Birdsong, and I didn’t think the writing suffered in comparison with Sebastian Faulkes. The other half was essentially a modern romance (or chic lit, which I think is how she is or was marketed). The stories are linked by a painting and its provenance; it either belongs to a spoiled early 20th century widow, whose lover sees it in her flat, or it was stolen by the Germans in WW1, ended up in Nazi hands and is claimed by the family to have been stolen by the Germans and latterly Nazis’, Of course, love wins out and the widow’s lover proves that it was never stolen and his girlfriend can keep the painting and her expensive London flat. As is I hope apparent, I enjoyed the first world war bits a lot more than the contemporary bits!
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