Judith Flanders chronicles the lives and literary works of the Macdonald sisters. Each of these extraorinary women were either married to or mothers of an eminent male figure in the arts or politics: Alice was mother of Rudyard Kipling, Georgina married Edward Burne-Jones, Agnes married Edward Poynter, Louisa was mother to Stanley Balwin. The book concentrates on the environment in which the sisters grew up, their reliance on each other and how, in a time when womens achievements were limited by men, they were not only part of the guiding force behind such celebrated males but also created works of poetry and novels themselves.