Charlotte Betts

1665: Susannah Leyton has grown up behind the counter of her father's apothecary shop in bustling Fleet Street. But Susannah is dealt a shocking blow when her widowed father marries again, and her new stepmother seems determined to remove her from the apothecary shop for good.

Italy, 1819. Emilia Barton and her mother Sarah live a nomadic existence, travelling from town to town as itinerant dressmakers to escape their past. When they settle in the idyllic coastal town of Pesaro, Emilia desperately hopes that, this time, they have found a permanent home. But when Sarah is brutally attacked by an unknown assailant, a deathbed confession turns Emilia's world upside down...

After her French father and English mother are brutally murdered, bluestocking Madeleine Moreau travels to France to find the family she didn't know existed. When France declares war on England in 1792, Madeleine is trapped, but enigmatic Comte Etienne d'Aubery comes to the rescue when he offers her shelter in his home, Chateau Mirabelle.

1813. Venetia Lovell lives in Kent with her frivolous mother and idle younger brother. Her father frequently travels away from home, leaving his sensible daughter to look after the family. But when a handsome stranger arrives bringing terrible news, Venetia's world is turned upside-down and the family have no option but to move to London, to the House in Quill Court and begin a new life.

1688: Beth Ambrose has led a sheltered life in her family home on the outskirts of London; a place where her parents provide a sanctuary for melancholic souls. But as political tensions begin to rise in the capital, Noah Leyton arrives in the middle of the night with a proposition that turns Beth's world upside down.

1666. Newly married to a wealthy spice merchant, Kate Finche believes all her dreams of a happy family life are just around the corner until the Great Fire rages through London...