Includes bibliographical references (p. [292]-293).

Historian Rathbone knew when she married a Scottish laird that she was also marrying his mansion, but there was much this urban American did not know. Finding herself in a setting like that of many a classic novel, both enchanting and treacherous, she shares hard-won lessons in dealing with a grand but crumbling Georgian mansion, troublesome tenants, and an intractable class system. With the skills of a biographer, she delves into local histories, anecdotes and family papers in an effort to understand her surroundings and to free her husband from the grip of his past.--From publisher description.