Tregaran

The tangled history of two Cornish families, torn by lust and revenge from an earlier generation, unfolds in this well-written, satisfying romance. Jocelyn, putative heiress of the Tregaran clan, is 10 years old when the story begins. The Tregarans are shabby aristocrats dominated by Jocelyn's vindictive grandmother; the almost similarly named Tregarns are their destitute neighbors who nurse an enduring and mysterious wrong. Inevitably, young, idealistic Phil Tregarn, who champions the cause of the clay pit workers, falls in love with Jocelyn. Although they consummate their rapturous love, the enmity between the families and the disparity of their situations keep them apart, as does Phil's enlistment in World War II and an arranged marriage for Jocelyn with the son of a local industrialist. Against the compelling Cornish background, rendered with colorful detail, Lide ( Diary of Isobelle ) spins a beguiling love story. (Publishers Weekly)