Mum wants the elder sister to parent the younger, especially as children are being evacuated from WWII London. The elder sister, feeling the pull of her own ambitions, makes some egregious mistakes and is separated from younger during the first day of the Blitz. Mum dies in in the next night’s bombing. For the rest of the book, both sisters agonize over the choices they made and how they think those choices affected the other. The story is told from the perspective of the now-elderly elder sister, with the trajectory of the younger sister’s life filled in via an over-wrought journal that elder sister receives in mid-life.

The earlier portions of the story are well-written and engaging; unfortunately, the author descends into repetitive melodrama to round out the tale. The changes in perspective (from the reporter, to the elder sister, to the younger sister, and back again) seem forced and unnecessary. Changes in the speed at which the story unfolds are also disconcerting. The reporter’s introduction to the elder sister is painfully detailed; the unfolding of the elder sister’s experience is well written and engaging; then the flow of time accelerates so quickly that it is easy to lose interest.

The last third of the book is simple tear-jerking followed by a declaration of a partially developed theme. Had the writing style in the middle of the book been carried throughout, it would have been a much better book.