Five years have passed since Edith

Campbell Berry arrived at the League of Nations in Geneva. The idealism of those early grand days, however, has been eroded. Edith's marriage and her work are no longer the anchors in her life - she is feeling the weight of history upon her and her world.

As her certainties crumble, Edith is joined by Ambrose Westwood, her old friend and lover and her former anxiety about their unconventional relationship is replaced by a feeling that all things are possible, at least in her private life. But the world moves ever closer to another war, and Edith and her fellow officers must come to terms with the knowledge that their best efforts are simply useless against the forces of the time.

Moving, wise and utterly engrossing, this is a profound and enriching novel.

Grand Days and Dark Palace confirm

Frank Moorhouse as one of our greatest writers - a master of tone and timing, an elegant and exuberant stylist and an unerring chronicler of the human spirit.