This novel traces a family and class story around an English country house across three generations. Social change from the interwar years through the postwar period unfolds through the relationships between characters and the gradual decline of the estate.

The rise and fall of one house reflects a changing era.

This biography tells the life of Florence Nightingale in the context of the Crimean War and nursing reform. Its careful, source-based narration brings out the rise of modern nursing and the changing social role of women.

It places the figure who helped shape nursing as a profession back into history.