A House at War: The Continuing Story of the House of Eliott

Fans of actress Jean Marsh's The House of Eliott and of the A&E series of the same name will be gravely disappointed by O'Leary's slight and totally colorless continuation of the Eliott sisters' rags-to-couture fashion story. It is now 1936, and the London fashion house started by Beatrice and Evangeline Eliott has just lost a commission to design the wedding dress of the about-to-be Duchess of Kent. Fortunately, the sisters have more than enough personal travails to occupy their thoughts. Bea is still trying to achieve a serene life with her film director husband, Jack Maddox, and their three children. Evie is involved in a series of disastrous relationships with men that O'Leary develops sketchily. Only Evie's former lover, Hugo, back after a four-year absence and a brief marriage, manages to be more than a shadow. As Europe veers toward war, Evie takes a lifeless sabbatical in Hollywood while Bea and Jack deal with the possibility that their son may be going blind. WWII brings an absurd plot twist as a House of Eliott model moves to Paris, conceals her Jewish identity, takes up with a Nazi officer and spies for the Allies. O'Leary's first novel pays little attention to the integrity of the characters. As a result, she's done the impossible: taken the vibrant Eliott sisters and made them tedious. (Sept.)