It is the late summer of the last year before the first Great
War. Cecil Valance, a beautiful young aristocratic poet, is
visiting Two Acres, the home of his Cambridge friend and lover,
George Sawle. On his departure, Cecil leaves a poem, dedicated to
George's younger sister Daphne, which when published becomes a
touchstone for a generation, symbolizing an England in its final
glory. Meanwhile Daphne has also become involved with Cecil's
family, visiting their Victorian Gothic country house, Corley,
and developing a relationship with Cecil's brooding, manipulative
brother, Dudley, that will link the families for ever. The
Stranger's Child begins as a novel about two families and two
houses, by the time it reaches its profound and moving
conclusion, it has become an epic tale told in five parts
covering almost a hundred years.