Marching in Scotland, Dancing in New York

Read the stories of the Denny and Dryden families, one Scots the other English, beginning in 1921 and ending in June 1940 as they are played out in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland against the backdrop of these eventful years.

The marriage of Edward Denny and Honor Dryden is not an easy one.

Honor struggles with limited resources and the worries of motherhood.

When tragedy strikes she is devastated and her relationship with Edward deteriorates further as he seeks solace in an affair.

Susan Denny, Edward's sister, leaves Glasgow for a post as a nanny in New York and her life there provides a parallel story so that the action switches between Scotland and New York.

In America she finds a dramatically different, fast and hedonistic lifestyle where temptations, far removed from her strict upbringing, are hard to resist.

In a story drawn on fact, Margaret M Dunlop skilfully contrasts differences in social status and aspirations between the two familities arising from their, at times, tempestuous relationship, but also with its lighter side.

The novel evokes place and atmosphere and brings to life historic events and mores of the time with sensitivity and humour.