The Empress Emerald

Abandoned as a child in a Bombay orphanage Leo Kazans life takes an unanticipated turn when he becomes the protégé of Sir Lionel Pinecoffin the citys District Political Officer in Bombay. Under Pinecoffins tutelage the boy adept at learning languages and theft is trained as a spy and becomes immersed in international espionage revolutionary politics and diamond smuggling. In 1918 during a visit to London he has a brief but memorable affair with a young English woman Davina Dymond in London before leaving for Russia. Separated their lives take different turns. As he matures Leo begins to question his family history seeking to uncover the truth about his parents. A pregnant Davina is married off and exiled to Spain where she gives birth to Leos daughter. They are fated to meet again in Gibraltar in 1936 their love rekindled. But a new war plunges Europe into crisis the Spanish Civil War tearing them apart leaving Leo and Davina in a fight to reclaim their lives and their love amid the violent storms of war. An epic and enthralling novel of love and separation betrayal and treachery which sweeps the reader across continents from India and Russia to Spain and England. Individual lives are torn apart by the flood of war and political manipulation yet even as they struggle in that drowning tide Leo and Davina discover their own identities and place of belonging. Cinematic with a rich tapestry of colour and characters.