The tumultuous 1919 novel- one of Virago's trio of old-fashioned erotic best-sellers with E.M Hull's THE SHEIK and Elinor Glyn's THREE WEEKS- opens in India, as seapegrace Nick Ratcliffe rescues Muriel, the general's daughter, from dire peril. Repelled, yet fascinated by his mockery and ferocity- his way of an eagle- she agrees to a betrothal, then breaks it off for clean-cut Blake Grange. Back in England, Muriel gradually learns the truth of her feelings- and of Blake's. But when she returns to India Nick, now maimed in his country's service, is nowhere to be seen- until new peril strikes.