To seduce an English lady, a gentleman must always remember to . . . Gaze longingly into her eyes while declaring her beauty . . . Colonel Colin Mandland has wealth, power . . . everything but a bride. But although there is no mistress of his newly purchased manor, Maiden Hill, there is certainly a resident maiden: Lady Rosalyn Wellborne, a stubborn beauty who steadfastly refuses to leave the place she has always called home. Hold her hand just a...

Ardeevin, County Clare, Ireland. 1980. When her oldest brother Dan announces he will enter the priesthood, young Hanna watches her mother howl in agony and retreat to her room. In the years that follow, the Madigan children leave one by one: Dan, not a priest, for the frenzy of New York under the shadow of AIDS; Constance for a hospital in Limerick, where petty antics follow simple tragedy; Emmet for the backlands of Mali, where he learns the fragility...