The Bequest

1864. After years of service in the Russian navy and a gruelling expedition to Greenland, Captain Frederick Ziege of the Royal Danish Navy is enjoying chaperoning his mother, sister and two marriageable nieces for a season on the Riviera. There he meets Emmeline Leslie, a young Australian widower and veteran of the bush. The differences between their complex histories enrich their ensuing romance, but frustrate their search for a home. The Bequest takes the reader from Italy to France, North Africa, Greece, Siberia, Greenland, Australia, and finally England. It is a novel about identity and belonging; about the place of history and memory in uprooted lives. Objects - many of which are pictured, such as an ivory China trade puzzle, a jewelled pencil, a clock - have an almost talismanic role in the interlocking stories of this rich and moving tale.