Diana Cooke was the last of a her line, a line unbroken back to Pocahontas. By the end of World War I, when Diana makes her much awaited debut, her beloved Saratoga is an albatross around her neck, one that compels her to marry a brash "Captain" whose greatest attribute is his bank account. Almost immediately they loath one another, seeking out new ways to exact cruelty one on the other, the only mutual interest being the unearthly love each possesses for their son, Ashton.
The Captain's death relieves Diana of the burden of being his wife, though leaves her again financially on the brink. Not until her grown son is sent down from Yale and returns home permanently, prep school and university roommate in tow, will her finances - and the state of Saratoga - be set right. Saratoga saved, every other aspect of Diana's life quickly spins away from her, resulting, we can only assume in the tragedy that opens the forward: Saratoga a fire-scarred ruins, the bones among the ash presumed to be those of the mistress.
So here's my take: So. Much. Melodrama. I alternated between enjoying the story Robert Goolrick was creating and feeling it was just too much. Like, too, too much. In the same way, the prose was frequently beautiful, but occasionally too overdone. Perhaps this was a tool Goolrick used to create an overwrought, melodramatic narrative. If this is how the reader is intended to feel, well done. If not, I could have gone in for just a little less drama and fewer beautiful words.
Three-and-a-half stars.
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