A young woman in 1930s Los Angeles is surprised by a visit from a man claiming to be her father, and journeys to Europe with him to solve an old mystery and heal a long-broken heart. Boyd evokes the time and place of the action -- much of it told in flashback -- well, but the biggest leap he asks to reader to make is believing the long-lost daughter would uproot her life and go with this man on the scanty information she has. The meat of the story takes place in the Philippines shortly after the Spanish American War, and is certainly the most intriguing section. Boyd winds it up with a near-anticlimax but leaves a few plot threads dangling -- which is all right. Certainly the daughter doesn't believe everything her father has told her about the events of those days, nor does she believe everything her father apparently believes about his long lost love.
