When wealthy Penelope Mercer fell in love she would not take no for an answer. So, Adam Woodley, a simple pargeter, who had created the decorations for her father’s new house, was to become her husband. A pragmatic man, he had nothing to lose as the love of his own life had died. This unconventional marriage produced a son and a daughter and it was Sarah Woodley-Mercer who inherited both her mother’s determination and her father’s practical abilities.

She would need both—and more—to survive the aftermath of the English Civil War when, abandoned by her brother, she in turn must marry for expediency in order to stay in her beloved home and protect her people. Can Sarah’s unflinching courage through a bitterly unhappy marriage hold the little household together throughout the years of Cromwell’s rule? And with the restoration of the Monarchy, can she restore her family’s fortunes—and finally experience the love she has been praying for?