Owen Tudor was so interesting as a person and later as a father. I greatly enjoyed this book and I hope other people will enjoy it as i did.

I waited and waited and waited for a plot to develop and for the main character, Thea Lawrence, to get a life, but it never happened. Set in early 20th century England, the lives of the mostly female characters proceed at a slow pace, with much dialog but little action. However, this is probably true to the times. Thea's father walked out before Thea was born, leaving her mother, Belle Lawrence to raise her. They lived in Thea's grandmother's home in quiet poverty and desolation. One day Thea comes home from a visit to her Aunt's home to find that her mother has left her for the prospect of a sunnier climate and work in France. Her life becomes even more desolate without her mother to brighten her days.

Thea finally visits her mother in France, but her short-lived happiness is destroyed when her mother is killed in an accident. Thea returns once again to her dreary life in England with Nan (her grandmother). After suffering through more deaths in the family, Thea finally meets a man to love, Paul Bruner, but since he is German, he is interred for the interminable duration of the Great War, and once again, Thea is desolate and eternally seeking happiness.

The book really seeks to answer the question "Will Thea ever find someone who can bring her security and heal her from the searing rejection and loss she has known in the past?" As you approach the end of the book, you wonder whether this will really happen. The only thing that kept me reading this slow-moving, boring book was wondering whether someone could really survive such a dreary, depressing life.