Take the good bits of a sweeping family saga type book and a writer who mostly writes mysteries but isn’t really writing a hard core mystery here, place them down in the bit of time that stretches before and after the “great war” with some things coming all the way down to the present day and you have a really good read.

If forced to decide I’d probably say I prefer Linscott’s Nell Bray series books which are set in more or less the same period of time but I did very much enjoy this and it confirms that Linscott knows her historical stuff very well and is an expert at weaving it into the plot without lecturing you.