The Morning Gift

Author: Eva Ibbotson

Age: YA/Adult

A note about Ibbotson (author of A Countess Below Stairs) before we begin--her books are very similar. I've found that when I finish one of them I'm left craving more, but if I actually read two in a row it's not satisfying because they're just too much alike. Of course each story is different, but the types of characters and the general flow of the plot are always the same. I like each of the ones I've read well enough to think they're all deserving of a read, but I would put some space between them. For this reason I was planning to wait a while before reviewing another of her books (since I just did A Countess Below Stairs) but then I really wanted to read this one this week. So here you are.

Quinton Sommerville is an adventurous paleontologist. He's also independently wealthy (his estate overlooking the sea in northern England was painted by Turner!) and a highly eligible bachelor. Ten years ago he studied in Vienna under Professor Berger and became close to the kind Berger family. Now, in 1938, he's returned to Vienna to receive an honorary doctorate, but the Bergers have disappeared.

Ruth Berger is supposed to be in England. She's part Jewish so her family has to leave Austria. She's been accepted at a university in England and she has a student visa, but her train out of Austria is stopped by Nazis and she's taken off because of her involvement in a few student demonstrations. She hides until she knows her parents have left for England themselves--she doesn't want them to stay behind on her account.

Quin finds a despondent Ruth alone in the Berger's otherwise deserted apartment. He has to help her (she is beautiful, after all, and besides Professor Berger is an old friend), but all of his pleading and bribing at the immigration offices get him nowhere...until someone suggests that he marry Ruth so that she can travel on his British passport.

Quin and Ruth agree to keep their marriage completely secret. Although Quin is undeniably attracted to Ruth, he knows she is in love with her stepcousin Heini, a concert pianist. Ruth feels indebted to Quin and is determined never to ask him for anything again. They make plans to avoid one another completely and let Quin's lawyer handle their divorce. But then Ruth ends up at Quin's university, taking his course, and it becomes harder and harder for them to avoid one another.

Ibbotson doesn't tell her stories from the point of view of one or two characters. This book features a whole cast of supporting characters, each with their own agendas: Leonie Berger, Ruth's mother, who just wants her daughter to be happy, whatever the cost; Heini, Ruth's demanding fiance, who depends on Ruth to look after him so he can focus on his music; Verena Plackett, the brilliant daughter of the university president, who has decided that she and Quin would make a perfect society match; and Quin's cranky Aunt Frances, who raised him and is horrified by his determination to donate his estate to the National Trust because he has no desire to produce an heir.

Like A Countess Below Stairs, this book features a refugee society consisting of people who enjoyed success, wealth, and prestige in their native land but are now reduced to poverty and unemployment. It's an interesting phenomenon. I wonder how long it really takes for people in such a position to go from gratitude simply to be alive to bitterness at what they've lost.

The book also deals with the theme of the great artist who believes that because he is talented all others must exist only to serve him. Those of us who know artists personally, or read about them on celebrity gossip blogs, realize how sadly truthful this characterization is. It is disappointing, however, that none of the characters never seem to fully realize what a jerk Heini is. They know they don't like him, but they really are so blinded by his talents that they can't quite figure out why.

It's an enjoyable read. As I warned you with A Countess Below Stairs, Ibbotson is almost too precious at times--which is why I wouldn't read her books back-to-back. It's mostly the heroines who annoy me. Can't a girl be likeable without having to be all goodness and light all the time? If not, there's not much hope for someone like me. But I like her heroes, and those are who we women really read these sorts of books for anyway, right? No one's on Team Bella, after all. And what's hotter than a secret marriage?



Recommended for readers who like: A Countess Below Stairs; WWII romance; historical fiction; happy endings