When Arthur Craythorne returned from the First World War he was a changed man, struggling with violent flashes of anger, and his two young daughters, Florrie and Alice. Florrie follows Arthur into the Catholic church, but it is Alice he favours. They spend hours together, reading from his copy of Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" ? his most treasured possession. Florrie seethes with envy, but Arthur's attentions towards Alice are more ambiguous than either of them realise. After their father dies, the sisters' rivalry intensifies when they both fall in love with the same man.but this time Florrie wins his affections. When, many years later, the family's long-buried secrets begin to resurface, they are still not prepared to face the truth.