England, 1936. Edward VIII’s accession is followed almost immediately by a constitutional crisis. Kit and Emma become reluctant witnesses to the king’s private conflict, while Polly is left isolated at Morland Place when James is summoned abroad. Her voyage to New York on the Queen Mary brings a long-lost love back into her life and confronts her with a painful choice.
The family is scattered from Hollywood and Stalin’s Russia to the battlefields of Spain. Basil volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, and Jack’s work on new fighter aircraft convinces him that his children underestimate the danger from Nazi Germany. As Britain debates fascism, communism and appeasement, the Morlands struggle to preserve family and estate in the gathering storm before the Second World War.
