I love Kay, I really do. But this was a bit of a disappointment for me. I don't think it fails as a book necessarily. It just didn't do it for me. The central characters were a pair of contemporary teenagers and the boy's family and other associated grown ups. The boy and girl stumble into this "story" of a love triangle that's been constantly reinvented by subsequent incarnations of the three persons involved in the south of France (Aix en Provannce.) The development and denouncement of this is lovely and sad and rich and romantic in the way that Kay can write so well. But I just didn't like the kids. There weren't unlikable, they just lived lives that called forth nothing from me. So, if you're a Kay fan, read it. If this sounds interesting to you, read it. But I can wait until my copies of Lions of Al-Rasson and a Song for Arbonne show up so I can re-read them. And when he publishes again, I'll be sure to read it as soon as I find it.