A sweeping debut family saga set in Cornwall in the late 1700s, following Rose Pengelly, a young woman determined to pull herself out of poverty and make her mark on the world. Cornwall, 1793: Rose Pengelly's father has been ruined he has lost his boat yard and his fortune, plunging Rose and her mother into poverty and debt. There appears to be only one way out of their terrible circumstances; for Rose to marry Mr Tregellas, a powerful timber merchant and the man Rose believes is responsible for her father's downfall. He has made his terms clear; either she marries him or faces homelessness...