This cold country

"Daisy Creed, at the onset of the Second World War, is twenty years old, the daughter of a Church of England rector. Her life, instead of following the conventional pattern society has drawn for unmarried, middle-class girls, becomes one of infinite possibility. Daisy, who enlisted in the Women's Land Army the day after war was declared, sees herself "as one of the cards tossed into the air and was fairly sure that wherever she landed she would prefer it to the life she watched her mother lead."". "Courted by two young officers, taken up and then snubbed by the upper-class Nugent family, Daisy's adventures include a house party in the Lake District and a romantic weekend in London where air raids alternate with frantic gaiety and pleasure seeking. In the spirit of the time, Daisy precipitously marries, and finds herself living in the south of Ireland at Dunmaine, the decaying estate of her absent husband's unfathomable family.". "Ireland is a neutral country, free of English rule for only eighteen years. With friends who include a charming Fascist charged with treason in England and a womanizing British officer decorated for courage, it becomes increasingly difficult for Daisy to understand exactly where the sympathies of her new family lie. Her elegant and difficult sister-in-law soon flees to her lover, and her reticent brother-in-law and the unseen grandmother who rules the house provide few clues. Before Daisy can grasp the unspoken rules, she becomes an unwitting accessory to a murder and is drawn into a love affair that throws her life into complete disarray."--BOOK JACKET.