The British community of Portugal in the nineteen-thirties welcomes Ruth, the bride of wine-taster Bobby Teape, into a privileged and wealthy world of rolling hills, great rivers and endless vineyards. But the Teapes' marriage is overshadowed by guilt, because Natalia, the housemaid Ruth hires, is the girl Bobby once raped. In the post-war turbulence of Portugal under Salazar's fascist regime, the children of Ruth and Natalia inherit a future that is scarred by Bobby's secret from the past. "Fasciniating...vivid...convincing in every way."
--"Homes and Gardens"