Set in a West African colony during World War II, the novel follows Deputy Police Commissioner Scobie as he is pulled apart by faith, conscience, duty to his wife, and love for a young widow. It traces, with quiet intensity, how guilt and pity combine to drive him toward ruin.

When pity, duty, love, and faith collide, how much of the self can remain intact?

A two-volume biography of the eighteenth-century English music historian Charles Burney, tracing his life, travels, writings, family, and friendships. It presents him as both a shaper of music history and a figure moving through a wide literary and musical world.

It portrays Burney through the journeys and relationships that shaped his life.