Melissa

In her always solid historicals, Hylton (Reckmire Marsh) often explores women's friendships and rivalries; this exemplary new one proves no exception. Lovely narrator Ginny Lawrence, the pampered but kindhearted young daughter of a close British family, first meets Melissa Francis in the early days of WWII, when Melissa, still a child, is evacuated from London to Ginny's small town during the Blitz. The cold, self-possessed, talented Melissa is taken under the wing of the local noblewoman, who makes sure that the girl's lovely voice is trained. After the war, Melissa becomes an opera diva in Italy while Ginny marries Alistair, the nice London boy her family had boarded and cared for during the evacuation. Alistair, a psychiatrist, accepts a job at an Italian sanitarium, which brings the couple back into contact with Melissa. Soon he falls for the glamorous diva, and he and Ginny divorce. Continuing to work at the sanitarium, Ginny tries to help the very disturbed wife of the great conductor Riccardo Mellini, a man she comes to admire more than she wants to admit. Later, she re-encounters Melissa, who, having dumped Alistair and married an abusive Italian playboy, wants to be friends again. Long-suffering Ginny forgives all until Melissa threatens to betray her a second time, leading to a resolution that is too pat and sudden. For all that, Hylton, through rich characters, psychological insight and plot twists aplenty, delivers her tightest, most entertaining romance to date. (Dec.)