The Brass Dolphin

As a young woman, Lila Cunningham dreamed of running away. She had been saving for her escape from her widower father for years. Freedom seemed just around the corner until one day her father admits they are in debt so deep they are going to lose their house. How can Lila leave her father now? Financially ruined, he only has his art...and he is not that talented of a painter. Even Lila does not believe in his paintings. [As an aside, I found Lila's father to be a very selfish man. He bartered Lila's mother's pearls for paints. But Lila has her immaturities as well.] Neighbors Mr. & Mrs. Perriam come up with a plan to send Lila and her father to the island of Malta where their second home needs looking after. The plan is perfect except show more for the timing. Hitler has appointed himself war minister of Germany. Lila is naïve to this and she goes to work as a secretary for Count Julius. The theme of naivety runs strong with Lila. She doesn't realize the importance of Malta to Hitler's war. She is naïve about Malta's society. She doesn't understand the proper decorum of the wealthy. She has never been in a relationship. Readers watch Lila mature as she is faced with difficult and life-altering situations.
As an aside, the first time readers meet a brass dolphin it is in the shape of a knocker, placed high up on an enormously tall door of the Tabia Palace, home of Count Julius. It becomes a symbol of hope for the future later in the book. show less

Caroline Harvey is a pseudonym of Joanna Trollope whose books I have always enjoyed. This one is set in Malta during WWII. The wartime story is realistic without being graphic, even though Malta suffered so much because of it being headquarters for the British fleet. True to Trollope, it is essentially about human relationships. In this case with just a touch of romance thrown in. The story inspired me to read more about Malta - the sign of a good book.

Lila Cunningham learns that her father has borrowed money against their home and that now the bank is repossessing it. Her employer and friend owns a home in Malta that they never use so they decide to send Lila and her father there. They arrive at a time just before World War II breaks out. It isn't long until they are taking cover from the bombings. Lila had begun working for a Count who was a historian, but she begins helping a new friend with her hospital in the city after the war erupts. Lila also begins to see a different side to her father. I really enjoyed most of this World War II story which had some of the feeling of a romantic suspense while not being pretty light on the romance and with more of a war theme than the darker show more suspenseful tones. Ultimately I did not like the manner in which the book was resolved and lowered my rating because of it. show less

I keep getting books that are hard to rate! I enjoyed the author's style and the characters were all interesting, though many are never fleshed out. "Pa" was my favourite character as he reminded me of Mr. Micawber (the drunken version). He was also one of the few characters that showed any growth--the most, in fact. I liked the heroine until she interacted with others; each time her actions and haughty speeches or toadying annoyed me and sometimes I found her thoughts a bit hard to reconcile to her actual deeds.
The plot is pretty predictable and the ending left me feeling that something important had been omitted by mistake.
It was the sense of time and place that made this book worth reading. The scenes of Malta at war are horrifying show more and yet inspiring. I think we tend to think of WWII as the war that showed us how low humanity could stoop. I think this book helps remind us of the courage, strength, and heroism of the normal, everyday people caught up in the midst of it all. I wish we could remember that part of the war as often as we think of the horrors.
All in all, I think I will not keep this book, but I will give Joanna Trollope another try. After all, even her illustrious ancestor didn't get it right every time. show less