This was a quick, easy, pleasant read. The story is the life of a post-war Englishwoman who has an illegitimate child. Told from her present life as well as from her childhood, we watch Rachel's life evolve. A lonely only child whose parents are posted in Africa, Rachel spends holidays and summers with her none-too-sympathetic grandparents. Luckily she is accepted into the goings-on of the big family next door. The author spins Rachel's life out for us, letting us wonder til the end the father of her baby Tess. I enjoyed the characters and found their situations to be believable and interesting. ( )