"Fast-moving and immensely readable...Back to the open spaces, merciless climate and sheer pioneering stance of the magical THE THORN BIRDS, this book is a page turner from start to finish" Maeve Binchy

Alexander Kinross is remembered in his native Scotland only as a shiftless boilermaker's apprentice. But when he writes from Australia to summon his bride, his relatives realize he is now a man to be reckoned with.

Arriving in Sydney after a difficult voyage, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Drummond meets her husband-to-be and discovers that he frightens and repels her. And, isolated in Alexander's great house, Elizabeth finds that marriage does not prompt her husband to enlighten her about his past life - nor his present one, in which his mistress, the sensuous, tough, outspoken Ruby Costevan, still plays a part...

"Absorbing" - The Telegraph

"A powerful saga" - Mirror

"A compelling, passionate and gritty saga that was well worth the wait" - She