Publisher's Synopsis
This is the story of two women, separated by time and place, but inextricably linked. Allie Ryder is mother to 6 year old Ben and wife to Patrick, leading a comfortably affluent life in modern day London. She has had a troubled childhood, but she believes that, at last, she has found safety and security in marriage and motherhood. Her life seems idyllic, but her wish for financial independence and the return of her mother, Abigail, precipitate a series of events that slowly begin to unravel the life she has so carefully built. Ailsa Mackinnon, is living a harsh existence in 1890's St Kilda, an isolated and bleak Scottish archipelago where the threat of starvation is constant and the inhabitants must eke out a living from the sheep and the seabirds and what they can grow from the barren soil. Ailsa can have no control over the events that will mould her life, and, grown up, she must make the toughest decision she has ever had to make. As Allie starts to experience echoes from a past that she cannot know, she is led to discover, finally, the extraordinary life of Ailsa Mackinnon, which in turn inspires her to come to terms with her own experiences of abandonment and betrayal.
