A Summer to Decide

Helena, the presiding genius of the trilogy, dies near the outset of this book, leaving only her indomitable spirit to help her children struggle on without her. For her daughter, Charmian, just giving birth to a daughter herself, and trapped in her marriage to the now drunken and womanising Evan, it is only by her absorption in her child, by Evan's inevitable downfall, and by the passionate concern of her half-brother, Claud.