Kirkus Reviews QR Code
ECHOES OF WAR by Joan Dial

ECHOES OF WAR

By

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 1984
Publisher: St. Martin's

In spite of English Tony Winfield's ""slightly tousled brown hair. . . contrasting pleasantly with his immaculately tailored clothes,"" it takes American Kate Kieron, leading US tourists through the delights of 1939 Nazi Germany, some time to straighten out Tony's allegiances. After all, Tony's mother Cecilia, in her English estate of Cardovan House, entertains Anglo-Nazi Mosley and his crowd; Tony does attend dinners with Nazi brass with whom he has some influence. Meanwhile, Kate's romantic feelings are rather a muddle too, since she's recovering from a church-step desertion by US journalist Wade Lowery. So: is Tony a good guy or a nasty? Well, after some narrow escapes for Kate and a Jewish member of the tour (effected by Tony), she feels rather pro-Tony--and, over in England, she stops in at Cardovan House to meet his charming mum, his dear adoptive dad (the Earl), and his foul sister Ursula. Then it's on to France, where the brave anti-Nazi twosome finds love and sex. Soon, in fact, Kate finds herself part of a RAP smuggling operation--while Tony flies planes for transporting soldiers behind the lines. Next, Kate attempts to help a Parisian escape to Spain, running into a violent confrontation with a vicious collaborator; Tony's back and forth, always in the shadow of the Gestapo--easily recognizable by their ""shaved necks"" and briefcases. Eventually, however, Kate and Tony will escape to England and marry. But what now? Wedded bliss is threatened--by old lover Wade, by Ursula's falsehoods, by the mystery of Tony's parentage. (Why is Cecilia not talking?) And, before the end of the war and the end of suspicions, there'll be many heroics (airborne, in a Nazi-hijacked Land Rover, etc.), a spate of nursing duty for Kate, confessions all around . . . and Kate's new vision of marriage: ""a commitment to humanity itself."" Notwithstanding all the flights and plots and derring-do: soggy Casabunkum.