More than Krantz's other novels, Mistral's Daughter relies on coincidence. Teddy's entire life story seems to be created simply to bring her, inexorably, to the moment when she and Mistral first see each other and fall in love. Similarly, it is almost too much to accept when the first young man to whom Fauve feels any serious attraction turns out to be the son of Mistral's betrayed dealer. Krantz also manipulates the sequence of events through a series of early and unexpected deaths.

Maggy's rich American banker drops dead after bringing her to New York, leaving Maggy to fend for herself. Of course she does, admirably. But it leaves the reader wondering why the character has been written out of the story so ruthlessly. Similarly, Teddy is killed off in a boating accident just after bearing Mistral his beloved Fauve. Are the two Lunel daughters left fatherless and...