I'm feeling the tiniest bit guilty over having a copy of Jacqueline Winspear's The Mapping of Love and Death already. Just a tiny bit mind you. Mostly I'm feeling really greedy and want to read the book in one big gulp, but I'm going to make myself slow down. Once I've read it, I'll have no more to look forward to for another year, but I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I?
This mystery actually begins in America, along the coast of California in 1914. A first generation American of a British born father will return to his father's birthplace when war breaks out. He's only allowed to enlist as he's a cartographer, a job necessary for the war effort. I don't want to tell too much (and I don't actually know too much yet), but years later the young man's parents will turn to Maisie Dobbs to help in locating a young woman who knew their son during the war.
My teaser is from that initial meeting between Maisie, Billy and the Cliftons.
"When her guests were settled, Maisie took the seat closer to her desk, while Billy handed cups of tea to Edward and Martha, and in those precious seconds without conversation, she was able to gauge their mood and feelings toward each other. They were, as might be imagined, somewhat tense, though Maisie could detect a connection between them that she found rare in a man and wife of their generation. They leaned towards each other in a way that a pair of ancient oaks might seem as one, their branches laced together as the years passed. Yet at the same time there was an independence and, Maisie thought, profound respect. She could see that there had been no secrets in the household, and decisions had never been made alone, until the day Michael left for England."
I suspect I'm breaking all the rules by posting a quote. Does it not count if this isn't actually a review. Although I'm not going to gulp I don't expect it will take me long to read The Mapping of Love and Death, so more about the story later.