First Love, Last Love

Energetic characters in believable situations and an intensely evoked sense of place give life to Saxton's ( The Pride ) WW II-era tale of three British families. In the 1930s , Henry and Dora Cream earn an adequate living from North Sea fishing, and are proud of their two daughters: Lizzie, a stunningly attractive teenager, and Sybil, 10, who is plain-looking but exceptionally bright. The girls form close friendships with Ralph and Christina Winterton, whose wealthy family summers near the Creams' seaside cottage. While these four youngsters become inextricably bound, a brash Jewish boy named Fenn Kitzman flees his abusive relatives in Manchester and stows away on a freighter bound for New York. The war brings profound changes. Ralph's unsavory side is revealed and Lizzie becomes tragically estranged from her close-knit family. On a windswept beach, Fenn, now an American pilot based in England, meets Sybil. Saxton's keenly observed settings and period details, ranging from a spot ``where the gorse grows and the larks nest'' to the carefully described contents of a fisherman's cottage, give this story gratifying immediacy. (Feb.)