The Blue and Distant Hills

In post-WW II England a frightened young girl comes to maturity and love in this sensitive historical/fantasy by the author of First Love, Last Love. Having been stranded in Italy at the beginning of the war, Questa Adamson spent years narrowly evading the Fascists and enduring near-starvation and brutalization by German soldiers. At age 17 she returns to her native land and learns that she has inherited the nearly ruined Shropshire estate of Eagle Court. Her short-lived tranquility is disturbed by the arrival of her father's old friend, Grace Syrett, seeking refuge from London's housing shortage for herself and her young son, Dickie. While the women reach an uneasy truce, Questa falls into swoons in which she finds love with a mysterious neighbor, a young Roman named Marcus who lived in the area 20 centuries previously. She also befriends a modern neighbor, elderly, crippled Randolph Atherton, who teaches her how to farm her land. When disaster strikes, Questa manages to find the strength to surmount her troubles and embrace a new love who seems to be Marcus's legacy. Saxon paints a vivid picture of life in postwar England, its inhabitants bitterly struggling with shortages and other deprivations. Her attempt to integrate Questa's dreamworld of Roman Britain is never fully convincing, however. (May)