THE RISING STORM

The author of several stolid but agreeable historical romances (A Change of Season, 1992, etc.) gets more mileage out of a new plot twist, framing a WW II romance—set in England and France— with a contemporary one. Young Roz comes home from Oxford on holiday to find that Sophy, the beloved grandmother who raised her, has disappeared, leaving only a cryptic note. Panicked, Roz dashes off to the Cotswolds to grill her great-uncle Jack, a crusty old bachelor who won't reveal what he knows about his sister's whereabouts—or her past. But later, snooping around in an upstairs bedroom, Roz finds her grandmother's diaries and—in flashback—we hear the story of what happened when Sophy went to Cannes to spend the summer of 1939 with a school friend, Anne-Marie Dufour. Though Sophy is engaged to Bob Lingard, a pleasant young English naval officer, she's soon having a hot affair with a cynical French photographer, Daniel Verge. When Daniel is sent off to the Maginot Line, Sophy makes a mad dash to follow, but, after seeing Nazi tanks lumbering down a French road, she heads back to Cannes—a nightmare trip for the now-pregnant Sophy, who can't reveal her nationality since the English have just pulled out of France. Back in Cannes, Anne- Marie's brother Paul helps her get back to England, where Jack arranges an adoption and where Sophy gratefully marries a patiently waiting Bob. In the present, Roz, though none the wiser about Gran's whereabouts, continues the search with the help of casual boyfriend Michael Chance. Before the close, there will be a happy reunion in Cannes, where Roz will hear the end of her grandmother's story—and will act on the impulses of her own heart. A slow but satisfying read for Anglophiles.