MixedThe New York Journal of BooksAt first reading, this novel plodded rather than flowed. The introduction lagged with so much time spent on Mrs. Brathwaite’s flaws that the reader found her unpleasant and hardly worth rooting for. On second reading, the theme of the novel presented more clearly—that Mrs. Brathwaite’s redemption lay in her own self-forgiveness and redemption ... Yet the encounter that Mrs. Brathwaite had with the burn patient did not make sense in the context of the whole novel, and the repeated encounters with the spy ring and rescue attempts appeared to rehash rather than advance the plot. One likeable feature of the novel, however, was the self-reflection of Mrs. Brathwaite in her recognition that motherhood is more than raising a child—it also entails establishing and maintaining a lifelong bond of mututal trust and support. A reader willing to look for that thread will not be disappointed.
