Amy Allen, a teacher in Dublin in the Free State, the southern part of recently (1921) partitioned Ireland, wants to marry the man of her dreams, Phil Handy, and see her brother, Henry Allen, prosper on the family's flax estate, Shandoran, in County Cavan. Amy is up against it. Why and to what extent is revealed in a humorous yet tragic tale played out not just in Cavan and Dublin but the Orient as well. The rollercoaster times, nineteen twenties to early forties, are grist to the mill. So is the switch from Protestant to Catholic rule in southern Ireland; the realisation by a once powerful minority that the tables have finally turned. But it is the interwoven lives of its main characters, of Phil (a cynical, restless, readaholic), of Amy (level-headed and assured), of emotion-driven, vulnerable Henry, and of his fickle wife, Harriet - that drive the story on and keep the reader engrossed till its gripping, harrowing end.