December 2, 1991
Once again Elisabeth Danziger has made her annual visit to The Tamarisks, her childhood summer home on the Danish island of Mon. The house has long since been turned into an expensive hotel, but Elisabeth scarcely notices the guests and the changes that have occurred. For 15 years, since WW II ended, she has been coming here to explore the secret hiding places of childhood, run her hands across initials long ago carved in trees and visit the local museum to peer at artifacts that once belonged to her family. Almost as an aside, Taylor ( Swann Song ) reveals that this colorless, unassuming woman is a concentration camp survivor. Her seemingly bizarre actions are in fact part of a carefully planned ritual. As a young woman, Elisabeth fell in love with her cousin, also German and Jewish. Before the Holocaust overtook them, they vowed to be reunited at The Tamarisks one August after the war ended; Elisabeth alone has returned every year to keep the appointment. Taylor's terse, clear prose is always readable, but she is so parsimonious in doling out information about her characters that the tear-jerkingweb climax doesn't have the devastating effect she seems to have intended.