Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, escaping the consequences of long-buried family secrets and forced to accept that he'll never marry the woman he desires, joins the Merchant Navy. But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat. An American cruise liner rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and an American who dies in the night, providing Harry the chance to escape his tangled past.

"Layla Roy has defied the fates. Despite being born under an inauspicious horoscope, she is raised to be educated and independent by her eccentric grandfather, Dadamoshai. And by cleverly manipulating the hand fortune has dealt her, she has even found love with Manik Deb--a man betrothed to another. All were minor miracles in India that spring of 1943, when young women's lives were predetermined--if not by the stars, then by centuries of family tradition...

Singapore, 1910--Desperate for a fresh start, Harriet Gordon finds herself living with her brother in Singapore at the height of colonial rule. Hoping to gain some financial independence, she advertises her services as a personal secretary. Unfortunately she discovers her first client dead with a knife in his throat. When Inspector Robert Curran is put on the case, Harriet joins him in investigating what turns out to be a treacherous web of deceit....

"November, 1921. Edward VIII, Prince of Wales and future ruler of India, is arriving in Bombay to begin a four-month tour. The Indian subcontinent is chafing under British rule, and Bombay solicitor Perveen Mistry isn't surprised when local unrest over the royal arrival spirals into riots. But she's horrified by the death of Freny Cuttingmaster, an eighteen-year-old female Parsi student, who falls from a second-floor gallery just as the prince's grand...

In 1941 a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of a vast intelligence organization--the only woman to serve as a chef de résistance during the war. Strong-willed, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country's conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. Her group's name was Alliance, but the Gestapo dubbed...