The Wind Off the Sea - Softcover

Charlotte Bingham is a bestselling women's fiction writer in the UK. She has written comedy and drama series, films and plays with her husband, the actor and playwright Terence Brady. Her bestsellers include Distant Music, Summertime, and The Season.

In the sequel to The Chestnut Tree (2003), Bingham continues the story of a quartet of British women. It's now two years after the end of World War II, and Judy, Meggie, Mattie, and Rusty are living off rations, enduring a severe winter, and suffering the aftereffects of the war. Judy's husband has returned but her marriage is not what she has imagined it would be. Afflicted with ennui, Meggie wanders alone through her huge house. Mattie, a single mother, faces the silent condemnation of the village, and Rusty is deeply depressed after a miscarriage. Into this morass of sadness comes Waldo Astley, a rich, handsome American, who becomes the talk of the village. Once again, Bingham juxtaposes male expectations of women with the new expectations women have for themselves, but the sequel is not as stratifying, or as satisfying, as the original. Yet Bingham does craft wonderful characters, and places them in fully detailed settings to create a historical novel that honors the strength of women. Neal Wyatt
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