The Rose Arbor
In September 1943, families in Tydeham Grange, Dorset, are told by army soldiers they have two weeks to gather their belongings and move away because the village has been requisitioned for invasion drills. More than 20 years later, a little girl goes missing in London. The incident recalls the unsolved cases of three little girls who had gone missing back in the 1940s, and evidence leads back to Dorset.
Bowen is the bestselling author of the Molly Murphy historical mysteries as well as other books. She’s skilled, therefore, in revealing bits of evidence and unraveling plot lines that are not as they first appear. In The Rose Arbor, she sheds light on the effects of wartime on the home front. In addition to recounting the actual story of the evacuation of Tydeham Grange, Bowen captures the frantic actions of parents who must move their children to safety in the country and away from the Blitz, and the anxieties of children who are forced to travel on their own and rely on caregiving strangers.
While the threads of the story do pull together, there are many side stories that distract along the way: the hippie lifestyle of the 1960s, an emerging love story, unsettling flashback recollections, numerous incidental characters, and vignettes told from the perspective of “The Little Girl.” An entertaining, if slightly bumpy, read.
