Meg
After her mother's sudden death, Alice Tremayne is led on a path of discoveries. She meets her mother's old art-school friend Heather, who alludes to a summer spent in Provence at the cusp of World War II. The rest of the tale is revealed in Meg's own words, in a diary that recounts the girls' experiences at a bucolic artists' colony and Meg's tragic romance with an exiled Austrian intellectual. The declaration of war forces Meg to return to England and to enter a marriage of convenience to the man Alice has always known as her father. In contrast to the detail Hardy uses to paint the idyllic scenes of Southern France and the heady feelings of young love and prewar idealism, the scenes set during the present day are rushed, and Alice's reaction to learning her mother's secret history seems hollow. This historical romance turns from engaging to trite. Kostovski, Aleksandra