This HaBO request is from Diana, who is a librarian trying to find a book for a patron:
I’m a librarian who is hunting down a book for a patron. It’s a pretty vague plot, but I’m hoping it might ring a bell for someone!
She was a student at our college from 1987-1991. She read a book that she checked out from our library around that time and is trying to track down the title. Here are the details:
It was a war drama (possibly World War II) that had some romance in it. She isn’t sure if it was strictly a romance novel or simply historical fiction with a romance plot. At the time she read it, she didn’t think it was brand new, but also didn’t think it was very old (she said it didn’t have the crisp white pages of a new book). It was a hardcover, so it probably wasn’t one of the Harlequin romances.
A woman met an officer, and they were planning on getting married. She went to the courthouse to meet up with him for their wedding, but he didn’t show up, and the woman didn’t know why. She possibly was pregnant. It took place in an old European city.
Can we help Diana (and this patron) out?
The plot is quite vague… I remember I saw a movie once with this theme. Does she go on to become a nurse in the war?
Also, all European cities are old 🙂
Could it be “The Other Side Of Midnight” by Sidney Sheldon? It’s not a straight romance it’s definitely fiction involving some romance but a lot of revenge and things like that. They made it into a movie or TV movie too.
This could be so many novels, this girl should sit down and really try to remember more details. In the meantime, I’ll try to track it down. Linda
Was it The Ring by Danielle Steel?
This is ringing some vague bells, but as others have said, too many possibilities. Does the guy not show up because of war? And are the characters Americans in Europe, or local? It’s reminding me of Wouk’s “Marjorie Morningstar” (boy, was I traumatized by that book) but some details are wrong. (Not sure there was a wedding there, just an agreement to meet.)
@Diana – depends what you mean by “old.” Most European cities have been around a while but with a few very specific exceptions, in terms of architecture London, Paris, and much of Madrid and Prague basically belong to the late 19th C (only about 50 years older than much of New York). If you want a medieval city that still LOOKS medieval your options shrink a bit. Belgium is a good bet (Bruges or Ghent or Ypres if the book is pre-WWI), and parts of Germany (not so much Berlin) if pre-WWII. Could be Eastern Europe too. Those are all places touched by war in the 20th C and they all have a good medieval LOOK. Any architectural details come to mind to narrow down setting?
Thanks for putting your thinking caps on! I’ve sent the link to this post to the patron and hopefully she will stop by and add any more details she remembers. Most of our librarians here felt it rang some bells too, but were unable to find anything that matched.
As with Christine, my first thought was of “The Other Side Of Midnight” by Sidney Sheldon.