The Bungalow – Sarah Jio

Genre: Adult Fiction
Publisher: Plume
320 pages
ISBN: 9780452297678
Blogiversary celebration by Luanne at A Bookworm’s World

 

It’s a classic tale of war-time love: beautiful, well-off young couple, broken apart by war, a glimmer of hope that they’ll be brought together again by time and space.

Well, ok, that’s the very short version.

The long version is that high society vets, Anne and Gerard were paired together by their well-intentioned parents, long before they understood the playmakers’ methods. They grew up together in comfort and wealth, even as war loomed on the horizon. Love was never much a part of the equation; it was more like solid friendship, at least on her part.

After a bout of nerves leading up to their impending nuptials, Anne begs off the date they had planned, delaying festivities in favor of joining her friend Kitty on the other side of the world, aiding in the nurses’ war efforts in the South Pacific.  Hoping to come back with warmer feet than she left with, Anne packs her bags for what turns out to be an adventure of a lifetime.

In a whirlwind assessment of what can happen to a quiet army base in and out of fire, Jio creates an incredible setting in lush, alluring war-time Bora Bora. Many of the setting specific details do pertain to the second world war or to Tahiti but the sweeping, overall range of emotions and study of love, loss and darker things, can span decades, even centuries, local or global.

Everyone raved about Jio’s The Violets of March but I kept putting it off and putting it off. I’m headed out to grab it, now, because I really was impressed with this one. It’s a quick, sweet read with lots to think about and lots of love. I highly recommend this one for the beach blanketed horizon.