[1] This is the story of a beautiful woman set mainly in Melbourne, Victoria and England, from the early 1900s to the Second World War.

Nellie Melba appears in the novel, singing at a garden party thrown by Lucinda's mother, and is described as having the "loveliest voice in the world".

[2] Lucinda spurns the love of a distinguished family friend, Tony Duff, to marry the dashing aide-de-camp to the Governor, Hugo Brayford.

Lucinda's life of ease is replaced by hardship when Hugo takes her to England just before the First World War.

This novel was adapted for a television mini-series in 1980, produced by Oscar Whitbread and directed by John Gauci, from a screenplay by Cliff Green, featuring Wendy Hughes as Lucinda, and Sam Neill as Tony Duff.