Lilian Blackwood is a sixteen year old girl who longs to be powerful. But the strict Victorian world she has been raised in does not allow girls to express themselves, and her desire to be noticed gets the better of her when she meets with the handsome Mr Tilney and his manservant, Carpenter. Set against the backdrop of Victorian England and the British Empire this is a fable of innocence unchallenged by experience and a comment on the ambiguities of love, sex and history.

Lilian Blackwood is a sixteen year old girl who longs to be powerful. But the strict Victorian world she has been raised in does not allow girls to express themselves, and her desire to be noticed gets the better of her when she meets with the handsome Mr Tilney and his manservant, Carpenter. Set against the backdrop of Victorian England and the British Empire this is a fable of innocence unchallenged by experience and a comment on the ambiguities of love, sex and history.