"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: The Care and Management of Lies, by Jacqueline Winspear (1 July 2014).
By July 1914, the ties between Kezia Marchant and Thea Brissenden,
friends since girlhood, have become strained - by Thea's passionate
embrace of women's suffrage, and by the imminent marriage of Kezia to
Thea's brother, Tom, who runs the family farm. When Kezia and Tom wed
just a month before war is declared between Britain and Germany, Thea's
gift to Kezia is a book on household management - a veiled criticism of
the bride's prosaic life to come. Yet when Tom enlists to fight for his
country and Thea is drawn reluctantly onto the battlefield, the farm
becomes Kezia's responsibility. Each must find a way to endure the
ensuing cataclysm and turmoil.
As Tom marches to the front lines, and Kezia battles to keep her ordered life from unraveling, they hide their despair in letters and cards filled with stories woven to bring comfort. Even Tom's fellow soldiers in the trenches enter and find solace in the dream world of Kezia's mouth-watering, albeit imaginary meals. But will well-intended lies and self-deception be of use when they come face to face with the enemy?
As Tom marches to the front lines, and Kezia battles to keep her ordered life from unraveling, they hide their despair in letters and cards filled with stories woven to bring comfort. Even Tom's fellow soldiers in the trenches enter and find solace in the dream world of Kezia's mouth-watering, albeit imaginary meals. But will well-intended lies and self-deception be of use when they come face to face with the enemy?
*****
This straight historical novel is a bit of a departure from the author of the Maisie Dobbs mystery series (set after World War I), but I'm a fan of her writing and interested in the period, so I'll gladly give this a try.
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