From the no.1 Sunday Times bestselling author Fern Britton comes a powerful novel about an ordinary woman living in an extraordinary time, and her small but vital place in history.

Good daughter.
Good woman.
Good servant.
She tried to be them all...

1932. Dunfermline, Scotland.
Marion Crawford, a bright, ambitious young teacher, is ready to make her mark on the world. Until a twist of fate changes the course of her life forever...

1936. Windsor Castle.
At first this ordinary woman is in a new world, working as governess to two young princesses, in a household she calls home but where everyone is at a distance. As the course of history changes, she finds herself companion to the future Queen, and indispensable to the crown. And slowly their needs become her needs. Their lives become hers.

It's then she meets George, and falls in love for the first time. Now Marion faces an impossible choice: her sense of duty or the love of her life.