In the spring of 1938 Elise Landau arrives at Tyneford the great house on the bay. A bright young thing from Vienna forced to become a parlour-maid she knows nothing about England except that she won't like it. As servants polish silver & serve drinks on the lawn Elise wears her mother's pearls beneath her uniform & causes outrage by dancing with a boy called Kit. But war is coming & the world is changing. & Elise must change with it. At Tyneford she learns that you can be more than one person. & that you can love more than once.