However, his self-sacrificing mother has other plans for him. A position in an Edinburgh legal firm is secured for Iain and he is forced to leave the countryside he loves. The city is alluring and sophisticated but, ultimately, events force him to return to Torglas and to face up to his family and long-time companion, Mary Cameron. This work contains beautiful characterization and evocative description of early 20th-century Edinburgh.

    The first part of the trilogy introduces the Moorhouse family – Arthur, the successful business man and first of the family to move to Glasgow; David, the dashing and impulsive socialite; Bel, driven by ruthless social ambition; and Phoebe, the half-sister from the Highlands who grows up to be a great beauty. The second and third volumes follow the changing fortunes of the family, as their lives are touched by triumph and tragedy – in Glasgow at the height of the Victorian era, and in Vienna, glittering capital of the Hapsburg Empire.