Candida Wilton arrives in London broke, divorced and rejected, yet somehow filled with a strange sense of excitement. Secretly convinced that despite all, she is a lucky person, she is proved right with an unexpected windfall. To broaden her horizons, she plans a trip abroad.

This third novel in Susan Howatch's "Church of England" saga follows the story of the Archdeacon Neville Aysgarth whose talent for his job seems to be his only virtue. As the novel unfolds, a very different man appears, one who has compassion and pity for the German prisoners of war.

Set in August, 1939, this story moves from Cornwall to London and back again, over the years, telling the stories of five cousins who have gathered at their aunt's house for their annual ritual of a holiday. It presents a picture of wartime London: the rationing, the fallen houses, the parties, the new-found comforts of sex, and more.

Nathalie and David have been good and dutiful children to their parents. They were both adopted and now Nathalie discovers a need to trace her birth parents and insists that David makes the same journey. And through this, both learn one of the hardest lessons of all.

World-renowned singer Ifor Llewelyn comes back to his quiet Welsh hometown on doctor's orders. But the visit didn't exactly benefit his health. The hard-drinking ladies' man has just been found dead - and Constable Evan Evans is trying to find out why.