Book one will introduce Oliver Lytton, the head of the firm and indeed of the family and his beautiful wife, Lady Celia. They have three children: Giles, the ambitious heir to Lyttons who is engaged to the perfect woman for a man with an important future; Elspeth, who is spoilt, difficult and beautiful and already in a disastrous marriage to a rich philandering layabout; and Kit who, though an afterthought, is, at eleven years of age, the golden boy and the apple of his parents? eye.
The story is about divided loyalties, both personal and professional, reaching crisis point when these two domains collide. It is about secrets, lies and the dangers of telling the truth. It is about ruthlessness, ambition and power. But above all, it is about a powerful family and the politics that are unavoidable.