Can they forge new futures after the death of a patriarch?

Paisley, Scotland, 1929

Isla McAdam is summoned to Paisley by a lawyer following her husband’s suicide, only to discovers that she was never truly married to Kenneth McAdam, a shameless man who had been leading a double life.

Ainslie, his daughter by his lawful wife, warns Isla to stay away from their family, but Isla has nowhere else to go and moves with her two children into a tiny room of the run-down tenement building Kenneth left her.

Kenneth's unscrupulous actions have left very little to support either of his families and when tragedy strikes, Ainslie’s mother, Catherine, becomes increasingly unstable, creating havoc for both Isla and Ainslie.

Despite being thrown together in unexpected and distressing circumstances, Isla and Ainslie gradually realise that they can offer one another support. But when secrets from Isla’s past spill out, her current life becomes intolerable, and both Isla and Ainslie face life-changing choices that lead them in unforeseen directions.

Previously published as McAdam’s Women

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