Two young ladies, born in the shadow of the siege of Metz and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by the Prussians, are swept up in the changing cultural, industrial, medical, scientific, and geo-political tides of the late 19th century in France; they act without hesitation on the new empowerment of women, in business and in love. Against this background and the art nouveau of the École de Nancy, a solitary sculptor is drawn into the girls’ lives. Twenty years earlier, as the Prussians advanced on Metz in August 1870, a two-horse carriage driven by a gnarled deserter from the Prussian army escapes south towards Nancy. In the rear, a young French entrepreneur is hand-in-hand with a stunningly beautiful young lady speaking German with a coarse accent, pregnant by another man and masquerading as a countess.

The paperback and eBook's original pencil sketches by Robert Butcher (April 2020) and the late 19th-century paintings in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy, including several by Émile Friant (Dieuze 1863 - Nancy 1932), can be seen in the PDF with this audiobook.

Marcus Bicknell wrote the book during COVID-19 lockdown, March-June 2020 and it was narrated for this audiobook by Charlotte Worthington who is a German and French language teacher living in the same village, Chalfont St Giles, as the author.

Genre: historical romance and drama. Contains scenes of a sexual nature and mild violence. Not suitable for children.