4.5 stars. This is, perhaps, more novella than novel. It shows us the day-to-day life of a young family at the end of WWI. We see the parents (especially the mother) through the eyes of the sons. She is the compass-point that they all turn to. This story centers on her place at the center of their lives, and at the end, her place as the center of her husband's life. There is the sense that we, the readers, are just watching them go about their lives for a short period of time - there's no real beginning and no definitive end to the story. They were living their lives before we met them, and they will continue to live their lives after we leave them. Grief will re-model their lives, but they will go on.

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