Just occasionally it happens that children fall in love . . . a strange and innocent sort of love, not involving sexual desire but full of emotional intensity and the source of lifelong, radiant memories.
Such a love occurs in 1911 between Hermione, a nine year old girl, and Sandy, her eleven year old neighbour. Both children live in great houses on adjoining estates and they spend two unforgettable summers together before being forcibly separated by their parents. After a lifetime apart they find each other again. Hermione's life has been one of wealth, responsibility, duty and loneliness. Sandy has experienced a long marriage and a brilliant diplomatic career. After all this, can they rediscover their childhood selves?
This book relates an extraordinary love story and ponders the eternal questions of kinship, secrets and inheritance as they affect a large, aristocratic family. The novel includes a brief appearance by the young Reggie - the irrepressible hero of 'A Rather English Marriage', recently adapted into an award-winning television drama with Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Joanna Lumley.
