Waterloo Station
By Emily Grayson 

     Young Carrie Benedict spends her final weekend in Longwood Falls, NY, helping her grandmother clean out her attic instead of going off with her boy friend. She is struggling with their relationship and beginning to doubt the concept of actual lasting love.

     Her grandmother, Maude, has recently lost her husband, Stephen, after a lingering struggle with cancer, and has been convinced by her daughter to come live with her. Maude and Carrie start cleaning the attic in front of an enormous steamer trunk which contains many mementos of Maude's life, and she reminisces with Carrie.

     In 1938, Maude left Longwood to study at Oxford University. There, she studied literature with her tutor, Stephen Kendall. Through their study of the Romantic poets, especially A.L.Slayton, they discovered their love for each other, though Stephan could not then divorce his wife.

     When England declared war on Germany, Stephen enlisted in the Royal Navy. In Intelligence, he was unable to see Maude, but managed to have a letter delivered to her. She misunderstood the message, believing he had ended their affair. She sought solace is becoming a trauma nurse, caring for men wounded in the war, and it was through one of her patients that she was able to find Stephen again, and learn the truth behind his letter. Hearing the story of Maude and Stephen's lasting love, Carrie realizes that there is such a thing as a deep and abiding love.

      This is an absorbing beautiful story of a love that survived adversity and never died. The plot is well-crafted, the characters developed in depth. The author has successfully evoked the spirit and the atmosphere of the trying times of wartime England. This is an engaging story and a delight to read, with no explicit sex; no explicit violence and no profanity.