A bearded face in a mirror... A holy man in a mosque in the heart of Iran... A stranger in a toy shop in Oxford Street... A surgeon in Bristol Royal Infirmary... They all have one thing in common: piercing, ice blue eyes. And whenever they are seen, happiness and good fortune seem to follow.

Rose, for instance, on holiday in Iran with her father, finds that a disfiguring birthmark on her beautiful face has disappeared. She also gets herself a husband. Others, caught up in desperate intrigues involving car chases, kidnapped children, family revelations and savage twists of fortune, find...