Frost in the Sun

This run-of-the-mill family saga follows the members of two wealthy enclaves, the English Costains and the Spanish Monteros. When, in 1913, Casilda Montero, indulged and impulsive, leaves her father's vast cattle ranch for an English convent school, she accomplishes two things: she comes closer to her cousin Alan Costain, whom she is determined to marry; and she makes a lifelong friend in Joscelin Howard, a talented student whose family is of lower social status. As Casilda pursues stormy sexual relationships and Joscelin struggles with her unexpressed love for Alan, the Spanish Civil War looms. Soon brothers and cousins will be on opposite sides; Casilda's brother lives in Germany with a Jewish wife under the shadow of nascent Nazism. The sprawling story reaches even to New York, where Lady Costain, Alan's mother, has fled from an unfulfilling marriage. Scenes of aristocratic power and privilege, and of consummated and thwarted passion mark the plot's milestones, but there is no single character among the many in this busy novel who is realized beyond a stereotypical mold. Lorrimer's other romances include Mavreen and The Chatelaine. (February)