A wonderful walk back in time on a deserted, harsh coastline with twists and turns that concludes with a delightful ending. Jane begins the story of Trudy Swan, an adventurous young woman, who marries a kindred spirit and embarks on a lifetime of wonder and discovery in ways that will surprise and warm the reader's heart.

After some tumultuous teen years, Claire (mother) and Mia (daughter) journey together on a twelve country tour followed by some concentrated living in Avignon, France. Written in alternating voices, this delightful book captures the nuances of the mother-daughter relationship as they take in new sights and experiences while traveling the world. They explore their inner selves and learn about each other in ways that would probably not have been so available in their daily lives. Great descriptive writing about the places and cultures they visit complement this fun and sometimes hilarious read.

For the most part, I thoroughly enjoy historical novels. This book however was rather superficial providing some background within which the story evolves. I found the characters not well developed and some rather strange, ie Walwyn's wife, Anne. The story itself became more improbable as it went on so that it was less of a historical novel and more of an imaginary tale and sometimes it seemed like the writer was trying to make it a bit mysterious. This is my first book review for BookBrowse and I was so excited to participate. Unfortunately reading this small book became somewhat of a chore. I am curious to see what others have to say. I thank you for the opportunity.

Ken Follet is one of my favorite authors - unfortunately I do not think this is one of his best books. I truly enjoy historical novels but I got a bit bogged down with the sometimes tedious sidebars on World War II. The Russian history part was much more interesting and I am not sure why. I know quite a bit about both but I just felt the World War II dragged on and on and sometimes i found myself skipping pages. Since my husband's family is from Buffalo I loved all of those descriptions of many familiar and well loved places and streets.