Despite being set during WWII, with the characters suffering due to the war, this book is primarily a romance. It is historical fiction as well; it touches on real events and real historical figures, but the primary purpose is to tell a love story and entertain while offering some historical background. Despite its dark setting, the book is a fairly light read.

         This book would probably not be as interesting to a serious history scholar as to a romance reader, but both types of readers could get some benefit from reading this novel.  It might be a good read for a fiction course focused on the war with Japan and the plight of the Philippines during WWII, but would probably not be as useful for a history course on the same topic.  The language of the novel has an older, “classic” feel to it even though it was published in 1987, so it is not as old as the language and tone make it feel; given the setting, it couldn’t be much older than that anyway. The romance is tasteful and chastely written so it has more of a mainstream appeal than the typical historical romance and would definitely not be classified with the paperback romances. Despite the characters being caught up in their love and sometimes behaving as irrationally as any couple carried away with desire in a typical romance story, the writing and the setting give it a more intelligent feel than some of the other books that might come to mind in a historical romance genre. It actually has historical elements and is not simply a romance that takes place in the past.

         This was a good and easy read, but if one is looking for a gripping insight into the war with Japan during WWII, this is probably not the book to read. For some reason, I just didn’t really feel the characters’ suffering and the real events, awful as they were, felt overshadowed by the lovers longing for each other. It probably doesn’t help that I am skeptical of characters that fall in love soon after meeting. I also felt that the second love story was kind of pointless and mainly served to exonerate Catherine from any blame for being unfaithful to her husband.  I was annoyed by some pretty foolish misunderstandings between the lovers; They were able to profess their undying love to each and she is able to explain that she doesn’t want to leave her husband until certain things are resolved for him in honor of the memory of the child they lost, but she can’t explain that helping her husband simply because she doesn’t want him to die doesn’t mean that she still loves him and her lover can’t read between the lines to see it. The end seems a little quickly wrapped up and contrived, and possibly, just another ploy to absolve her from any divorce stigma. It seems unnecessary to me, given the state of, and initial purpose of her marriage, but given the time period it is written about, perhaps it seemed important to give her an out without making her seem like she is abandoning her husband. Despite my complaints about the characters, this is a decent read. I might classify it as highbrow beach reading and think it would make a good addition to a library collection.

© 2014 Natalie Kelley-Wilson

Natalie Kelley-Wilson graduated from Allegheny College with a BA in English Lit. and from Clarion University with a Masters in Library Science. Currently she works at her town’s public library and the county historical society. Email: nataliekelleywilson82@gmail.com