Covering the period from 1660 to 1702, this is part of a major Radio 4 series telling the history of Britain from the Roman invasion to the death of Victoria. It includes extracts from Churchill's "A History of the English-speaking Peoples", read by Peter Jeffrey.
In Venice, Frances Croy is working to leave the previous year behind: another novel published to little success, a scathing review she can't quite manage to forget, and, most of all, the real reason behind her self-imposed exile from London: the incident at the Savoy. Sequestered within an aging palazzo, Frankie finds comfort in the emptiness of Venice in winter, in the absence of others. And then Gilly appears.