When Alys revisits the beautiful Scottish island of Garve after an absence of twenty-five years, she is captivated by the embroidered cabinet on display in her hotel. She discovers that it belongs to Donal, her childhood playmate, and soon they resume their old friendship. Interwoven with the story of their growing love is the darker eighteenth-century tale of Henrietta, kidnapped by the laird and held on Garve against her will. Despite three hundred years separating them, the women are strongly connected: their parallel lives are linked by the cabinet and its contents, by the demands of motherhood and by the magic of the Hebridean island itself. But Garve has its secrets, past and present. Donal must learn to trust Alys enough to confide in her and, like Henrietta before her, Alys must earn the right to belong. Shortlisted for the Dundee Book Prize for 2005, this novel has been widely praised as heartwarming and realistic - a story about motherhood, love and obligation.