Frances Wingate is one of England's most renowned archaeologists, having recently unearthed a lost city in the Saharan desert. On the outside, she appears to have it all. But beneath the surface, she is struggling to deal with the demands of children and family, as well as a tumultuous, on-again, off-again romance with a married historian. Frances throws herself into work and travel, but when a tragedy forces her to return to England, to the flat countryside of her forebears, she discovers some surprising connections that offer her a chance to start again.

Author Biography

Dame Margaret Drabble was born in Sheffield in 1939 and was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. She is the author of nineteen novels including A Summer Bird-Cage, The Millstone, The Peppered Moth, The Red Queen, The Sea Lady, The Pure Gold Baby and The Dark Flood Rises. She has also written biographies and screenplays, and was the editor of the Oxford Companion to English Literature. She was appointed CBE in 1980, and made DBE in the 2008 Honours list. She was also awarded the 2011 Golden PEN Award for a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature. She is married to the biographer Michael Holroyd.