Winter Roses
This is the third in a series of four novels about a Sussex family and their neighbours during World War One.The family are the Lilleys, the father of whom is the rector of the village of Ashden. The quartet is known as The Seasons of War, the first titles being Summer’s End and Dark Harvest. The references to previous events in the saga are, for the most part, explained and the characters well delineated. The book begins during the summer of 1916 and the Battle of the Somme. All the family are involved in the war in one way or another, either as active soldiers or airman or in the various auxiliary services. The Lilley’s housekeeper, Mrs Dibble, copes with the food shortages and thinks up new ways to utilise unusual ingredients. Lack of food is a constant theme and meals and recipes are realistically detailed.
Eldest daughter, Caroline, becomes involved in the intelligence service in Folkestone, reading and interpreting messages coming out of France and Belgium. Zeppelins and the new German planes, Gothas, present a threat to the coastal areas and Caroline is caught in a bombing raid. She becomes involved with a Belgian Captain, Yves Rosier, after her previous relationship has ended with the death of her fiancé. An underlying theme of the novel is personal change as the lives of many of the characters are forever changed by the war, sometimes in unexpected ways.
