Isabelle is one of Rebecca West's most fully drawn characters, fraught with complex human contradictions and problems. Unlike the other characters in the novel who seem to stand for society in decline, Isabelle is a fully drawn modern woman for whom previously prescribed roles often do not apply. Her first husband, Roy, is killed before the novel's present time, providing Isabelle with freedom and money to go to France. Moreover, it is her American background and values she shared with her husband that provide a sense of loss, as well as the point of view necessary for her to look at European society. From this detachment, Isabelle tries to examine what she finds in Europe.

But Isabelle is more than a spokeswoman for West's condemnation of post-World War I Europe. Isabelle's emotions entangle her, in a very real way, in what she knows is wrong because Isabelle is...