I have no idea what the title of the book is. The copy I read was a paperback, probably published in the 1970s; I’m thinking it may have been a gothic romance or something of the sort.
What I can remember of the characters:
-Yseult, no idea what her last name was. She loses her memory after being in a bar? cafe? restaurant? in London that gets hit by the Blitz, wakes up in the hospital, sees herself in a mirror and finds out she’s pretty; she can’t remember her name but tells the nurse her name is “Lake”. She goes back to the place where she was when the bomb hit and starts talking to a man there.
-Nicholas Chammerd (possibly “Chamerd”) is the man she talks to; he was there the night of the bombing and had noticed but not spoken to her . They end up moving in together, and getting married. He is in the RAF? Army? some military thing, and goes off and gets killed.
Then she finds out she’s pregnant. She’s coming back to what was their flat one evening, hears a limping set of footsteps behind her, and faints.
-Lake, no idea what his full name was. And “Lake” turned out to be just a nickname, which she’d given him when they were children (or possibly she was a child and he already an adult). Turns out, he’s her first and legitimate husband, who she ran away from the night of the Blitz attack on whatever place she was in on her first night in London. He sees she’s pregnant and, although he knows he can’t be the father, says he’ll bring up the baby as his and brings her back home.
-Leda, Yseult’s stepmother, lives at Lake’s home. She previously tried to seduce him, but he wasn’t interested, so she decided to ruin his life with Yseult. Earlier in their lives together she’d convinced Yseult, who seems to have been a real dope before she met Nicholas and grew up a bit, that it would be funny to string something across the country lane where Lake was riding his horse. He was injured, hence the limping thereafter; I think the horse had to be destroyed too. And Yseult believed it when Leda tells her that Leda previously had an affair with Lake, which is why Yseult runs away.
Other things I remember:
It’s obvious Leda is the bad guy even before Yseult remembers her earlier life, as when she returns there is rationing going on, but somehow Leda always manages to have an elaborate tea, including real butter and eggs in the food. They’re on a farm, or in the countryside anyhow, but most of what’s produced is supposed to go to feed the troops.
Speaking of the troops, I think Nicholas was in the RAF as there’s an airfield nearby and Leda, who likes to surround herself with young men, wants to invite some to tea, and Yseult is afraid someone will recognize her and call her “Mrs. Chammerd”.
There’s a Blitz attack on their home, which leads to Yseult regaining her memory, and during which Leda is killed. Yseult is full of remorse when she realizes how badly she treated Lake at Leda’s instigation earlier on in their lives, and also realizes that she’s always loved him. She also says something about how good it was that Leda died while she was still relatively young and pretty.
It’s also possible the baby is born somewhere along the way – I vaguely recall a discussion about red hair, and how Lake when he was young was redheaded so everyone believes it’s really his baby. Yseult, when she sees herself in the mirror in the hospital, notes that she’s darkhaired; I’m pretty sure Nicholas had red hair.
