In 1820, steam power and industrial expansion begin to reshape England. The unconventional Africa returns from St Helena, Lucy brings her sons home from their Grand Tour, and Sophie and Jasper meet fierce opposition to plans for improving the housing of Manchester’s factory workers. In London, Rosamund’s strange bargain with Marcus produces consequences neither can control.
At Morland Place, James and Heloise watch their sons approach adulthood. Benedict is fascinated by both love and locomotives, while Nicholas, the heir, develops increasingly destructive appetites and impatience for his inheritance. The ‘devil’s horse’ of the title is the railway: a technology promising movement and prosperity but threatening land, hierarchy and the assumptions on which the dynasty has long depended.
