"From the popular author of Kane and Abel and A Prisoner of Birth comes the story of one family across generations, across oceans, from heartbreak to triumph. The epic tale of Harry Clifton's life begins in 1920, with the words, "I was told that my father was killed in the war." A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he's left school....

Follows the fates of five interrelated families--American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh--as they move through the dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage. Sigue los destinos de cinco familias interrelacionadas--una estadounidense, una alemana, una rusa, una inglesa, y una galesa--mientras pasan por los dramas de la Primera Guerra Mundial, la Revolución Rusa, y la lucha por el sufragio femenino....