Library Journal
The American wife of the British minister in Paris, Clare Moorhouse is suddenly tasked with hosting a dinner that could have profound consequences for her husband's career. She manages with her usual aplomb, even as she frets about her younger son, who seems to have committed a serious offense at his school back in England. More troubling is the thought of her husband's probable next posting to Ireland, a place she has avoided for decades because of some transgression in her youth. As the story unfolds, we learn that this transgression was not mild; during her college years, she had become involved with Niall, an aunt's "charity case" over from Ireland, and his violent opposition to the continuing British presence in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile, a French politician has been assassinated, and Clare continues prodding her injured conscience when she realizes that she saw the suspected killer far from the site of the crime. VERDICT Moving between the starched-napkin ambience of high-level diplomacy and urgent questions of revolutionary activity, this engaging debut novel gently probes both without forcing insurmountable choices on its characters. Good for reading groups.—Barbara Hoffert, Library