Time Passes Time

Written by Mary Wood
Review by Jasmina Svenne

In London in 1963, mentally and physically fragile Theresa Crompton is injured during an apparently random mugging. Her handbag contains her memoirs of her life as an agent for the SOE in Occupied France – memoirs which fall into the sympathetic hands of disabled Lizzie, whose aunt has an old connection with Theresa. Meanwhile Theresa’s long-lost illegitimate children have started searching for their past. Jacques, brought up by loving grandparents, wants to honour the parents he has been told were part of the French Resistance. But Patsy, embittered by years of hardship, is looking for revenge…

I’ve read 20^th-century sagas before and thought I knew what I was letting myself in for, but the first third of this book is very dark indeed – domestic violence, mental illness, blackmail, incest, rape, murder, the Holocaust, imprisonment in Dachau – you name it, at least one of the characters will have experienced it. Fortunately there is a bit more light relief later on. It doesn’t help that this is the sequel to a trilogy, so there is a lot of back-story to catch up on. The sheer number of viewpoint characters also means there are possibly too many claims on the reader’s sympathies. The first chapter is a very effective depiction of Theresa’s confusion of past and present, but I can’t help thinking the author gives away too much of her back-story, killing the suspense later on.

One historical detail that rang false to me is that Theresa is allowed to tell her family she is about to be parachuted behind enemy lines, rather than being given a more bland cover story. Wood’s fans will probably enjoy this, but it’s not for someone looking for a light, escapist read.