Notes

A Richard and Judy bestseller.
The Present: Rebecca Bradley, a young American actress, escapes the bright lights and her well-known actor boyfriend after his unexpected proposal to deepest Dartmoor in Devon, after landing a leading role in a prestigious 1920s-set British film. Hiding from the media glare, she is welcomed by the mysterious Lord Anthony Astbury, who has opened his stately home, Astbury Hall, to the film crew. When Rebecca is transformed into her screen role as a 1920s debutante, Lord Anthony is shocked by the resemblance to his late grandmother and reveals to her his quest to discover his family's past. As Rebecca is cut off from the modern world and drawn deeper into the atmosphere of a bygone age by the role, her grasp on present-day reality begins to slip ...The Past: India, 1911. At the Coronation Durbar of George V, eleven-year-old Anahita, a spiritually gifted Indian girl, meets Indira, a wealthy and privileged Indian Princess. They form a deep, lasting friendship, and Anahita is persuaded by Indira to become her companion. Indira's mother sends them both to England to be educated, but, once there, World War I strikes. Instead of returning to India, they travel to Astbury Hall for the holidays, where Anahita meets the sixteen-year-old Lord Donald Astbury, the reluctant heir to the estate. Their relationship grows stronger after the war, but with it so too does the pressure from the callous and conniving Lady Maud Astbury, Donald's mother, for him to marry Violet, a rich American heiress, to save Astbury Hall.