When you are taken from the convent which you love and where you hope to be eventually a teacher and married off to the son of a Coriscan Leader then life is not easy to say the least. A magnificent novel that deals with the feudalistic life style of pre and post war Corsica and then traditions that have endured for centuries. Sybilia is married off to the son of the Chief who has no interest in women but she makes friends with her mother-in-law Maria who is a traditional seer of visions of forthcoming deaths. The educated girl makes the best of the situation and eventually takes her husband outside the confines of the village to rebuild a life on the coast when the war intervenes and the Italians occupy the island. Add into the mix a brave American Captain, Robin Moore who exploits Sybilia's talents and uses her as part of the resistance. The story is told through different voices and it is exposes the difficulties of when traditional values meet the new order. It describes how the Corsicans fought the enemy but used tradition roles to bring about terrible consequences for Sybilia and her family. Add into the mix an anthropologist American who arrives after the war and the Irish priest who came for a short while but ended up there for years. A marvellous evocative novel.

Set during the Second World War life in Corsica was tough for women. When Sybilia married she gave up on so much for a marriage that was doomed from the start.

Sybilia's talents however were recognised very early on as being useful to their resistance and was used to full advantage by them. It however brought her in touch with an American whom she would fall in love with and have a child with. Cast out as a whore by the village mainly encouraged by her father in law who is enraged that the marriage never worked, Sybilia's life is not easy. Her mother in law is her sole companion and support but is under the whiplash hand of her husband. The son has always been afraid of his father and shies away from any contact with Sybilia.

At the end Sybilia is abandoned by her lover whom she waits for in vain for twenty five years. Finding out the truth of what happened gives her the means of vengeance and vengeance she wreaks on the man who ruined her life.

The story was overwhelmingly sad for me. I felt that Sybilia was on the losing side with no support from either her own family or the family she married into (other than her mother in law). Her husband was weak, her father in law overpowering and vicious. Sybilia was caught up in the middle of a narrow minded, insular community and there was no way getting out of that one. Her one passionate love was not to be. However the wealth of historical detail was of immense interest to me. It brought together different elements of the story all together.

Goodreads and Amazon reviews posted on 28/12/2017. Review on my blog posted on 28/12/2017

Sybilia a young Corsican girl was forced into marriage at 16 to the son of the powerful Xavier Rocca. The marriage is not a happy one and Sybilia is dominated by her cruel father in law and so is not upset when her husband dies. With the war and German occupation comes Robin the an American soldier and the love of her life, but one day he disappears without a word leaving her pregnant and alone in a deeply Catholic conservative country...... but how much did her father in law know about this!

A great historical novel and I found the culture and times of Corsica with its religion and vendettas fascinating.

This book starts off well as I really wanted to know why Sybilla did what she did in the opening chapters. However the book was a bit hit or miss for me. Sometimes the story kept me riveted and at others it would jump two years or there was not enough description. I didn't particularly engage with Jock and I didn't really find Sybilla all that believable. She went from being a sixteen year old A* student with no interest in men to being a seductress within a few months! It's a good story though and I did learn a lot about Corsica but for me I feel the writing in places let it down.