Based on a true life story, this novel traces the downward spiral of an upper middle class British woman, set against the background of the decline of the British Empire after the Great War. Eleanor Gregory was born a privileged child of the Raj in British India, but these golden years were not to last. Her story tracks horrendous years at boarding school, freedom at a Swiss finishing school and at British Vogue before the war, and experiences in bohemian Hampstead. Eleanor befriended aristocrats and writers, and indulged in a number of illicit affairs before a relationship with a prominent politicial led her to make a life-changing decision.