In 1892, young English settler William Thompson suddenly dies an agonising death. His Auckland neighbours know of scandalous goings-on between his wife, Alice, and his best friend – who is soon on trial for murder. Meanwhile, Alice has had a new baby, but who might the father be? Scorned by the judge as a woman 'lost to every sense of decency', she flees back to England.

Lindsey Dawson set out to discover how ripples from the drama might have affected later generations of the family. She found tales of devotion and tragedy, exile and loss. Clues faded over the years – but then an old letter secured with a rusty paperclip revealed there might be one last living descendant. There was one more crisis to come, delivering a poignant event that brought the old story full circle.

"A colonial murder and its aftermath. Relentlessly compelling... simply engrossing. I couldn't put it down." — Sir Bob Harvey