Magadalen, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Lord Carnegie of Kinnaird, shares with her childhood friend, Francis Gowrie of Mintlaw, a love of art and beauty, and a horror of barbaric practices such as the burning of women thought to be witches. But, with civil war brewing and family alliances paramount, Carnegie arranges her marriage to an ambitious young soldier, James Graham, Earl of Montrose. So begins this captivating portrait of the little-known wife of the infamous Montrose. Jenkins casts his ironic and informed eye over war-torn 17th-century Scotland, juxtaposing the feminine and domestic with the political and military ramifications of the era. An effortlessly readable novel from a vintage storyteller.