Where You Belong - Softcover

Bradford, Barbara Taylor

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440235154 ISBN 13: 9780440235156

Publisher: Dell, 2000

Synopsis

With all the glamour, drama, and passion that have made Barbara Taylor Bradford an international favorite, Where You Belong is the captivating story of a beautiful young woman making her way through a world filled with the dangers of war.

A talented young American photographer, Valentine Denning leaves behind the comforts of her home in Paris to record the war in Kosovo from the front lines. Drawn together by the perils of war photojournalism, Val and one of her colleagues, the British Tony Hampton, find themselves in the throes of a romance that is tragically cut short when Val, Tony, and their American colleague Jake Newberg are caught in a nightmarish ambush. When Val wakes up in a Belgrade hospital, she learns that Tony has died.

Later, when she and Jake attend Tony's memorial service in London, Val's memories of Tony are gravely shaken by the realization that throughout their relationship he had lied, telling her that he was divorced. Reeling from his death and betrayal, Val and Jake return home to Paris, where they recover from their wounds and try to make sense of Tony's lies to both of them. As they begin to build a relationship and leave the events of the war behind them, Jake confesses his longtime love for her.

But for Val, peace with herself is elusive, as she tries to reconcile her love of photography with the perils of her career, not to mention the claims on her heart. The desire for a fresh new beginning leads her to trade the grueling world of war photojournalism for a glamorous position as a photographer of celebrities--which lands her in Mexico, snapping the dashing Alexander St. Just Stevens (born Bill Smith in Leeds, England), an artist of international renown whose reputation as a playboy doesn't steel him against a powerful attraction to Val. Finding a new mode of photojournalism--and a new admirer--still can't ease her sense of searching for something, a sense that will lead her to retrace paths she thought were left behind.

Where You Belong is a moving story about a young woman's realization of her own inner strength and her ability to find her way to where she belongs in life...in love...and within herself.

About this title

Review:

The principal reason why Barbara Taylor Bradford has been able to maintain her position at the top of the tree for so long is the sheer consistency of her writing: Where You Belong may not ring any changes in a highly successful formula, but there is no denying her impeccable credentials as one of the most able of popular writers. As usual, though, all the reassuring elements are firmly in place here: a young woman struggles to make her mark against insuperable odds and enjoys a tempestuous relationship with one or more men, with all of the drama set against a vividly described backdrop.

Bradford's heroine this time is Valentine Denning, a young photojournalist risking her life on the frontlines in Kosovo. She shares her dangerous life with a British and an American colleague: Tony Hampton and Jake Newburg are men whom she both loves and trusts. One is a best friend, one a lover. But when all of them are shot and one killed, Val is forced to leave the world of war danger behind for the safe, glitzy world of celebrity shoots. The perils here are more in the realm of emotional damage, when she finds herself dealing with a famous artist and playboy. An encounter with him forces her to relive the dangerous life that she thought was over.

Val is a striking heroine, delivered with all Bradford's customary richness. Cut from a familiar cloth, perhaps, but that is one of the reasons that the abrupt change of gears in the book (from the battle lines to the glossy world of celebrity) is negotiated smoothly. Fears that the author may have bitten off more than she can chew with the grittiness of the opening scenes are soon allayed: Bradford despatches the Kosovo sequences with surprising aplomb. But her m&eacutetier, as always, is a heroine cast adrift and trying to find the kind of life that suits her best. The men in Val's life are also drawn with a skill that will surprise those who only know of Bradford as a superior purveyor of romance. In fact, she is a highly efficient writer who uses the conventions of the genre for her own purposes. She is unlikely to win any new converts here, but admirers will find everything that they go to her books for delivered with skill and assurance. There are the usual diverting revelations, and that surprising skill at atmospheric scene-setting:

I stopped abruptly, and looked up. A large spot of rain had just hit my arm. I saw that the sky had turned a cold, steely grey and yet there was a curious luminosity behind that greyness. Flashes of lightning were illuminating the darkening afternoon sky, and I felt the cool touch of the mistral blowing over my body as we stumbled on towards the villa.

--Barry Forshaw

Review:

"Lively...suspenseful."
-- Publishers Weekly

About this edition

• Publisher: Dell
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0440235154
• ISBN 13: 9780440235156
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 464