This book tells the story of the first landing of Captain Cook on the east coast of Australia in 1770.

In 1811, Maria Nugent left her four young children behind in England to accompany her husband, General George Nugent, on his posting as commander-in-chief in India. After a dizzying six months at the head of Calcutta society, the couple embarked on a 14-month tour of the British military stations in northern India, a journey that took them to the very edge of the imperial frontier. On these travels, Lady Nugent met a series of extraordinary figures from Indian history including Mir Jafar's widow, Munni Begum; the Indian grandmother of a British prime minister, the Begum Johnson; and the...