A Rope of Sand

by ElsieBurchDonald (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.47

  A chance encounter in a French town brings dark memories flooding back to fifty-five-year-old Kate. As a student at Sweet Briar College, Virginia in the 1950s, she joined a grand tour of Europe along with three classmates and their chaperone, Miss Grist. At the last minute, the mysterious and wealthy new girl, Olivia Hartfield, surprised them all by joining them. Revelling in the unparalleled freedom of the old world, Kate and her friends gradually form a privileged and sophisticated clique as, one by one, three intriguing but very different young men latch on to their party. But nobody is quite as they appear, and as facades crumble, this journey would prove eye-opening in ways the girls couldn't have possibly have imagined. On a remote outing a tragic and sinister event occurs. Now, thirty years later, the question is still open: what really happened that day?

• Used

  Hardcover
  2004

  $4.19

  A story of love, friendship, betrayal and incest. Equally reminiscent of The Age of Innocence, or The Talented Mr Ripley this is a classic novel about the loss of innocence and the fragility of human relationships. A chance encounter brings to the surface the truth about at tragic accident years before. A group of young female students (and unconventional chaperone Miss Grist) set off on a tour of Europe with all hopes of finding some kind of enlightenment, all that is except for mysterious and sophisticated Olivia who, the girls assume, will attempt to make contact with her elicit Parisian lover. Before long the group has grown and a break-off party travels to Egypt where the tangled relationships untangle and one of the party meets with a terrible accident. Suffused with the heat, passion and excitement of Europe in the 1950s, this is a compelling novel told with engaging intimacy.