Everyone knows the story of Elizabeth Bennet, who married Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. But what about Elizabeths sister Mary? Master storyteller Colleen McCullough imagines a life for Mary Bennet twenty years after the events of Jane Austen's novel. Twenty years on, each of Mary's four sisters is settled in her own way: Jane has a happy marriage and a large family; Lizzie and Mr Darcy have a formidable social reputation; Lydia has a reputation of quite another kind, and Kitty is in demand in London's fashionable salons. Mary, however, is a changed woman, and newly independent of family obligations. Now she is afire with resolve to publish a book revealing the ills of England and the plight of the poor. But the travels she undertakes to research her book will put her life in danger and ultimately deliver her to the man who inspired her