I think you can safely add Judith Lennox to the comfort read category. The Heart of the Night is a holdover from last year when I was picking up lots of good escapist fiction. This very absorbing read is a cross between Rosamunde Pilcher (think Coming Home) and Maeve Binchy (think Light a Penny Candle) with a story that spans a world war as well as the years running up to and winding down from it. Why is it that a book like this with well over 500 pages and tiny print doesn't even make me blink an eye while others give me pause before starting. As a matter of fact I tend to welcome sweeping stories like this when I know it won't be overly taxing and will be easy to lose myself in, and I guess that's the reason why. This was my first Judith Lennox book, but it won't be my last.
The Heart of the Night opens in 1936 when Kay Garland becomes a paid companion to a young woman of British-Russian heritage. Miranda Denisov is Kay's junior by only a few years, though she leads a privileged if difficult life with her demanding father. Kay's father died in the Great War and her mother when she was only a small child, so she is used to taking care of herself and living somewhat independently; however, she lives simply with her aunt and dreams of traveling. When she's hired as Miranda's companion it's as if a new page is turning in her life. Finally she'll be able to live a life of excitement and adventure, though Miranda will prove to be a handful. Still the two women become fast friends and confidantes.
Miranda's lifestyle is one of comfort and luxury, but she is also at the mercy of her father's whims. A ruthless businessman who remade himself after fleeing Russia, her father reminds her how he left with nothing more than a few stones in his pocket yet was able to become a wealthy man. Miranda has few memories of her British mother who died of TB when she was very young, and now must put up with her father's mistresses. Worse she's expected to act as hostess to her father's business associates who are often less than scrupulous. She must learn at an early age how to please her father and still keep at arms' length any other men with inappropriate ideas. She is already world weary at a young age.
It's into this strange world that Kay comes. Delighted that she is finally able to see Europe, as the Denisov's move frequently, but also realizing it is a fine line she walks between the high expectations of Miranda's father and Miranda's often whimsical notions. When Miranda meets a young French filmmaker named Olivier, she becomes involved with him romantically as well as professionally. Kay makes the mistake of aiding and abetting Miranda in her romantic crimes, but worse she makes a faux pas in front of Miranda's father and a potential suitor for her charge. Her misguided behavior, as deemed by Mr. Denisov, is enough to get her thrown out of the the household and into the streets of Berlin without a penny of her wages. It's only through the kindness of a young Englishman in Berlin on business that she's able to make her way back home unscathed. Kay and Tom Blacklock, though with a tendency to argue over most political subjects, become fast friends. It's a friendship that will last through the war years and beyond despite unrequited love and misunderstandings.
The story follows the fortunes of the two young women whose lives take drastically different paths. Kay returns to England and Miranda remains in Germany. They'll be separated not only by distance but by the war as well. This is all very epic and dramatic stuff--love, war, betrayal, death, second chances...all the good things that keep you turning pages. I don't think I'll be giving anything away by saying that the story follows a somewhat predictable arc. It's not always the destination, which in this case you sort of expect, but it's the journey which takes some unexpected turns. In the end, at least for me, it's a journey that's entirely satisfying and worth taking.