Saint Petersburg, 1910. If the future can be read in the cards, then it is written that Nina Karsavina will have many houses and more than one husband. At eleven, she couldn't care less about getting married, and she refused to believe that one day she would leave the family estate, with its finely carved woodwork, wisteria, and lilacs. Yet, a few years later, Nina wanted nothing more than to go far away. Since her sister's departure and her mother's death, she felt alone. One night, an angel called to her and urged her to flee Russia. She then married a young English aristocrat who took her to live in Brighton. But the First World War would turn her life upside down... An extraordinary life that her granddaughter Julia, who came from Australia long afterward, would recreate with tenacity and love. Like Margaret Mitchell, Penny Sumner skillfully recounts a family saga filled with passion and drama.