Michael and Libby meet as children on the outbreak of the Second World War. As the years pass their lives connect and divide. Both achieve success, and both discover that success is not without sacrifice. Their stories dovetail with others, with the characters facing dilemmas resolved in ways that challenge our views about what is morally right or wrong.

'The Three Graces' is about love in all its forms: passionate, pure, selfless, unrequited – and yes, fulfilled and enduring. It is not a simple love story, or a war novel, or a detective story, though it has elements of all three. The narrative forsakes the well-trodden ground of celebrity and royalty in favour of the lives of ordinary people living through extraordinary events.