The Damask Days: from the Sunday Times bestseller

* Compares very favourably with Emma Blair

Christian Knox is a girl who dreams - of a life beyond that of a Paisley housewife, of a world of learning beyond her Ladies' School, of possiblities her father dismisses as 'daft ideas'. But Christian is determined and when her father refuses to finance her education further she resolves to pay for it herself, by working as a tambourer, embroidering freelance for local textile manufacturers. Soon she's managing a group of Tambouring women on behalf of Paisley's biggest weavers, among them Angus Fraser, a man old enough to be her father but wise enough to appreciate her talents. Plunged into the fascinating world of Scotland's fledgling textile industry, Christian soon finds her combination of Lowland resolve and female flair begins to make its mark. And, in the shape of her greatest, most fought-for inspiration, the Paisley Shawl, it is a mark to be remembered for generations to come. . .