This novel is a direct record of the nearly one hundred years of life of Sarah Undridge. She was born on May 1st, 1848, and died on New Year's Day, 1948. On her third birthday, Sarah witnessed Queen Victoria opening Crystal Palace. It was thought the new building would inaugurate a time of peace between the nations, but within a few years war broke out. Crystal Palace remained for Sarah a shining symbol of men's aspirations, but its glory was always obscured by ' the houses in between'. Set mainly in London and Cornwall, the book is crowded with people Sarah had known, rich and poor, saints and sinners, London slum dwellers, Cornish fishermen, peers and politicians, all feature in this oblique commentary of Sarah's life.