cover image For Freedom

For Freedom

Joy Chambers, . . Headline, $11.95 (688pp) ISBN 978-0-7553-0940-5

This ambitious, complicated saga from Australian author Chambers explores love, loss and freedom against the backdrop of WWII in Southeast Asia. British doctor Lexi Robinson and her Australian soldier husband, John Drayton Whitby, cling to an old way of life in 1940s Hong Kong as the Japanese threaten to invade. Lexi's unexpected run-in with an American spy rekindles the passion they shared long ago; Lexi's childhood friend Kathleen discovers a devastating secret about her own past; and John begins to understand himself and his feelings. But the dramatic depictions of war-torn locales and the author's impressive research fail to rescue the story from lackluster characters and absurd twists of fate. (Oct.)