Beginning in 1720, Jeremy Morland marries the cold Lady Mary to secure Hanoverian protection and preserve his inheritance. Their household is shaped by political caution, but the Jacobite rising of 1745 brings war back to the family. After Culloden, Jeremy’s daughter Jemima emerges as the person capable of saving Morland Place from confiscation, debt and disorder.
Independent and practical, Jemima becomes the true guardian of the dynasty despite a dissolute husband who wastes the estate’s resources. Her courage wins the loyalty that formal authority cannot command. Against the collapse of the Stuart cause and the violence of government reprisals, the novel presents female stewardship as the force that preserves the family when marriage and male inheritance fail.
