Russia 1854: the Crimean War grinds on & as the bitter winter draws near the battlefield hospitals fill with dying men. In defiance of Florence Nightingale Rosa Barr
- young headstrong & beautiful
- travels to Balaklava determined to save as many of the wounded as she can. For Mariella Lingwood Rosa's cousin the war is contained within the pages of her scrapbook in her London sewing circle & in the letters she receives from Henry her fiance a celebrated surgeon who has also volunteered to work within the shadow of the guns. When Henry falls ill & is sent to recuperate in Italy Mariella impulsively decides she must go to him. But upon their arrival at his lodgings she & her maid make a heartbreaking discovery: Rosa has disappeared. Following the trail of her elusive & captivating cousin Mariella's epic journey takes her from the domestic restraint of Victorian London to the ravaged landscape of the Crimea & the tragic city of Sebastopol. As she ventures deeper into the dark heart of the conflict Mariella's ordered world begins to crumble & she finds she has much to learn about secrecy faithfulness & love.