It is 1743, and Great Britain's coffers are overflowing with the profits of Caribbean sugar. But when a spat between two London schoolboys turns deadly, the simmering contempt between London's powerful sugar merchants and the Establishment is laid bare. As the ring of Newgate Prison's execution bell draws menacingly closer, a desperate family seeks salvation from the King.

Author Sarah Staveley evokes an era and its people as she interrogates in forensic detail a sensational criminal case and uncovers its unexpected, heart-wrenching aftermath.