Daughters

The author of Cousins and Floodtide has come up with a plot reminiscent of Vera Cowrie's recent novel Fortunes. Again, the rise of international auction houses provides background for a tale of rivalry between two sisters. Sara and Catherine, born of different mothers, are the daughters of Alexander de Grelle, an eminent figure in the field of fine-art resale. De Grelle guards his privacy, especially a long-term, discreet affair with a compliant mistress. The daughters are unalike in temperament, Sara exuding Provencal warmth, Catherine frostily English, but both energetically vie for roles in their father's glamorous trade. The competition between them is exacerbated by de Grelle's sudden death, the provisions of his will, the problems of their own love affairs and by their polarized concepts of the auction business. Goodwin's prose style is a step above most commercial fiction, though the characterization of the main players in the drama is conventional. It is the adeptly evoked intrigue of the auction world, where we meet Mr. Parke and Mr. Bernet at the start of their careers, that makes this an engaging novel. (March)