by Elizabeth Cadell

..but life was too full—she decided—to worry about whether you looked like a monkey or whether you didn’t. It didn’t matter much until you grew up and wanted to stun some man into marrying you.

A continuation of the gentle English romance and chronicle of the Wayne family of the 1950’s and 60’s. There was a difficult and disturbing scene involving the lovable family dog that struck a discordant note. It ended on a bitter-sweet chord, though we know there is a third book in the series for all to find their happy endings. I didn’t enjoy the main couple as much as the first one. I was annoyed by Estelle, and thought she treated both of the men who loved her rather shabbily due to her wimpiness. First, because she didn’t want to hurt Nicholas, and ended up prolonging his pain, and then kept Cliff hanging way too long and only committed when he finally got tired of waiting for her and told her he was moving on. She was lucky to get him. He was way too good for her.

June 27, 2016