cover image Wait for the Day

Wait for the Day

Denise Robertson. Simon & Schuster (UK), $23 (400pp) ISBN 978-0-684-86828-8

Published in England in 1997, this romance novel by seasoned author Robertson (Illusion) may splash successfully stateside. Four female friends have been through WWII together, and now face the future, which includes reconfigurations of their friendships, their various romances, dreams and fortunes. Steady Peggy Bates marries Jim Dobson and experiences the everyday miracle of finding the right man. Privileged Amy descends into desperate straits with a psychologically abusive husband. Brash and sexy Joyce, who finally bounces back from the loss of her beloved Andrew in the war, finds love in the arms of Chuck Roche, a handsome, politically ambitious Yank. And intelligent, socially conscious Celia, who is dispatched to France to help resettle Jewish survivors of the camps, deals with the aftermath of the Holocaust and finds her life entwined with that of sensitive Aaron Gotz. Through the years, and with Celia's steadfast efforts, the women keep more or less in touch, finally coming back together to confront Peggy's widowhood and Amy's disastrous marriage. Joyce copes with her American boyfriend's commitment only to his political future, which doesn't seem to include an English wife. The four distinct personalities are rounded and true, though the men in their lives remain sketchier, and postwar conditions in Britain are rendered with stark details. Robertson rises above genre by eschewing the obvious happy ending for more realistic possibilities. (Jan.)