* Set during the Edwardian era, this is a poignant and beautifully told story of family love and family feuds, and of musical and artistic aspirations. * Introduction by Rebecca West's biographer, Victoria Glendinning.

Rose Aubrey is one of a family of four children. Their father, Piers, is the disgraced son of an Irish landowning family, a violent, noble and quite unscrupulous leader of popular causes. His Scottish wife, Clare, is an artist, a tower of strength, fanatically devoted to a musical future for her daughters.

This is the story of their life in south London, a life threatened by Piers's streak of tragic folly which keeps them on the verge of financial ruin and social disgrace . . .

'A book bursting with love and vitality' DAILY EXPRESS

"* 'It is improbable that even the most scrupulous reader could name a more poignantly and lovingly told tale, a more beautiful piece of writing" - NYTimes

"* 'So vivid and lovable are her subjects, a crisis-ridden musical and literary family, that to finish the book is to suffer a bereavement." - Mail on Sunday.