Publisher's Synopsis
"...enjoyably written." THE DAILY TELEGRAPH "A writer of integrity and imaginative energy." TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT In the early nineteen thirties, an ambitious young Scotsman sets out on the long sea voyage to Penang, eager to take up his post running a maternity hospital. On the journey out, he quickly makes the acquaintance of two beautiful sisters - one single, the other married. In the confines of the ship, the seeds of a scandal are sown. Seventy years later, Edward Mackay almost dies of a sudden and devastating illness. While he is recuperating, he stumbles upon a box labelled in his father's writing with the word "Penang". The box's contents, together with a casual remark of his mother's, sets Edward off on a quest. From his new home on the wild and beautiful island of Orkney, Edward begins to unravel the story of a man he loved but didn't know: his father.
