Garnett and Son

It is 1658 - the dying days of the English Republic under the Cromwells - and a down-on-his-luck publisher, Bartholomew Garnet, gets the chance to publish Paradise Lost by John Milton. But why is the office of censorship so interested in the manuscript? Why is his obliging new housekeeper asking so many questions? And will Garnet discover principles in time to get Paradise Lost published?

It is 1886 and the venerable publishing firm of Garnett and Son are getting by - just - when a manuscript comes in from a Mr. Conan Doyle. The manuscript divides the firm; Garnett Sr. loathes it and its hero, Sherlock Holmes, but Garnett Jr. loves it. The father and son agree to a bet: if they can solve a local murder, using Holmes' methods, they will publish. If not, Sherlock Holmes will be confined to the dustbin of history.

It is 1933 and Garnett and Son is on its knees. William Garnett is a journalist, sent to cover Soviet show trials in Moscow in the company of one Ian Fleming. When Fleming gets too eager for his own good with local beauty, Tatiana Romanova, the boys are arrested and thrown into the bowels of Moscow's grimmest prison, with nothing but an imprisoned American actor for company. It's hard to see how things can improve.