Roses in Winter

by Joan Dial

Back From the history of two generations touched by two great wars, comes a soaring epic of the human heart...of a girl born to a dying woman in the Great War's last dark hour, to live in England's most privileged splendor...of a young man who ran from a world of riches to the wild freedom of the mighty Mississippi.
 In the bleak mines and stately mansions of post-war Britain...the teeming streets and smoky brothels of New Orleans...the intrigues of the French Resistance...the terrors of Hitler's Gestapo...

And in all the passing years between...

 They shared a lifelong mystery begun in the dying echoes of an old battle, and found a love whose seeds were planted in the war-scorched earth, to flower at last, like...ROSES IN WINTERShortAn aristocratic Englishman raises a baby orphaned during the final fighting of World War I, but the child's life is haunted by the mystery of her parents' identity.

Genres: Historical Fiction

421 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 1982

About the author

Also wrote under the names:
Katherine Sinclair
Katherine Kent
Amanda York

Reviews

[Sandi *~The Pirate Wench~* · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
Times like this I wish I had a scanner, a beautiful stepback cover inside this book just to set the right mood for hopefully a good read.
So..was it?
The story starts out in France 1918 as the war is ending, Ian and his men are pulling out and as they enter into a deserted village they are tricked by German soldiers not willing to give up a last fight.
As a battle pursues and comes out in Ian's and his men's favor, he is stopped by the sound of a woman's cry.
Inside a small hut a young woman is about to give birth and with no one to help her, Ian takes on the task to deliver her baby.
Amid the dead and dying a new hope, a new life,one that will change his life and the generations to come.
Not able to leave the orphaned baby in France Ian takes her back home to England to raise as his own.
Who was the mysterious woman who shared a moment of elation and hope with Ian only to give her life for another?
Who was the young American soldier who lay wounded on the floor beside her?
A life long mystery that begun in the dying echoes of an old battle only to find a love in the war scorched earth and to continue on...
This story really had a lot going on, mystery, suspense, family drama and yes or course romance.
It was a good story, but what brought it down a half a star for me was there were a lot of characters and the author spent a lot of time flipping back to them from the "main" characters.
I would have liked to have had more "story/romance" around them and it seemed to take too much time getting to that point as well as the main characters spent to much time separated which then made it drag.
Otherwise the rest of the story was fast paced and did hold me to the end with a HEA.

[Jeanne Beaudet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very predictable. Too many characters died.

[Kiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this as a teenager and really loved the story itself.

[Spanishliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

My records show the author to be Joan Dial. Not sure why listed as "unknown" here.