David Collins is determined to find answers and put to rest a decades old family mystery.
Why did his twelve year old brother leave his billet on a stormy night? Why did he go by himself to a rugged Cornwall beach? And most of all, what part did the billeting authorities and the family he was staying with play in the resulting tragedy?
While David's marriage is crumbling and his business life failing, he sifts through the distortions of time and propaganda to discover and then untangle a carefully crafted cover-up involving MI5 agents.
He enlists the support of a sceptical cousin and the cousin's enthusiastic wife. Together, they peel back layers of family history and uncover some shocking deceptions.A childhood keepsake provides the final clue and confirms the role that a beautiful billeting official played in the disaster.
It also reveals that she was instrumental in safeguarding an extraordinary and very disturbing secret.