How the talented violinist Charles Kinsmith's chance encounter with the beautiful but mysterious Claudia Bertolini is revisited one year later on board a passenger liner en-route to Australia in 1885 is poignantly revealed in this most unusual yet fascinating historical romantic novel by Australian author Andrew Ryan. Set against the soul-crushing modes of the nineteenth century it reveals the couple's plight to freely exercise their right to personal expression in a society hostile to change. Fear of being humiliated for side-stepping the accepted rules of social behaviour, a dying man's life-long search to be reunited with his estranged family and the benevolent compassion of a first generation Australian widow all come together to show how easily, yet sub-consciously chance and coincidence weaves its way through each of the characters lives in this haunting and powerful novel.