We'll Meet Again - Hardcover

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The latest frothy work by prolific romancer Carr ( The Gossamer Cord ) begins with the Denver twins--flighty, sunny Dorabella and sane, logical Violetta--living on neighboring Cornwall estates at the outset of WW II. Repetitive first-person flashbacks recount Violetta's engagement and Dorabella's hasty marriage and widowing; subsequently, Dorabella devotes herself to her child while her twin wonders if her fiance has survived Dunkirk. Then Dorabella's French former lover arrives in England, Violetta is mildly distracted by the steadfast head of the local Home Guard and the sisters turn their mansions into convalescent homes for the wounded with the help of a mysterious, fascinating British captain. The war comes even closer when German spies kidnap Dorabella's son in an attempt to force her to steal radar secrets. The eventful plot compensates somewhat for two-dimensional characters and simple, declarative prose. Paperback to Fawcett; Doubleday Book Club selection; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Carr's multigenerational Cornish dynasty romances--from Tudor times to, here, the end of WW II--continue to glide toward the present. This wartime tale, much milder than its prequel, and puffed out with events recalled from The Gossamer Cord (1992), offers a final knotting up of the careers of twin sisters. While Violetta Denver awaits the return of fianc‚ Jovan Jermyn from the war, twin sister Dorabella (quite naughty in The Gossamer Cord but now much more sedate), who has become a good mother to small son Tristan, is shocked to the core when French ex-lover Jacques (for whom she had left husband Dermot, who's now deceased, and baby Tristan) arrives with sister Simone in a small boat on the Cornish seacoast. Yet another love twinkles on the horizon for Dorabella--this time in the form of secret agent Captain James Brent. But then Tristan is kidnapped. The ransom? A special box in Brent's cottage. Once crime is solved and tot rescued, it's pretty much stiff-upper homefront activity in the village and in London, as all but Violetta are convinced that Jovan will never return. Except for the last few pages, which supply a surprise dilemma, it's all fairly low-key. Below par, but the royal romancer, in her 18th hearthside storytelling, is entitled to a breather. Meanwhile, of course, the faithful will want to keep the sisters' story up-to-date. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.