Acclaimed creator Kaoru Mori's tale of life on the nineteenth- century Silk Road continues. Talas and Henry embark for England and their new life together, but stormy seas lie ahead. The Smith family is pleased at Henry's long-awaited return, but the revelation that he means to marry his unexpected foreign companion sours the reunion. Henry's stubbornness regarding Talas is matched only by his mother's, who is prepared to cut off her own son rather than approve of the union...Crafted in painstaking detail, Ms. Mori's pen breathes life into the scenery and architecture of the period in this heart-warming, slice-of-life tale that is at once wholly exotic, yet familiar and accessible through the everyday lives of the characters she has created.