The Heart of the Family - Elizabeth Goudge

Despite the crinkled pink petals strewn in the path of those who would have preferred red, four generations of Eliots have survived the War and are moving forward. The family's remarkable matriarch Lucilla is still with them, though she's facing the dark night of the soul.

All is turned on its head with the arrival of Sebastian, another survivor of WWII. He has a story far more painful than any of the Eliots. While with them, he wrestles with questions about his own disconnected existence.