Sybil Ross has been brought up by her Jewish furrier father and style-obsessed mother as an empty-headed fashion plate. But on the worst night of Liverpool's blitz she uncovers a secret that leaves her disorientated. When the war is over, Sybil embarks on a voyage that leads her to the very edge of America, and to a final choice. The Cast Iron Shore is a beautiful evocation of one woman's journey from the 1930s to the 1990s, combining the personal and political in an outstanding first novel.