in the third novel of englands cazalet family elizabeth howard moves through the dark middle days of world war ii to may 8 1945 ve day along the way her beloved characters painfully come of age polly and clary fall for the same man louise suffers childbirth alone and zoe conducts an affair with american airman ian cormac a legendary earth central security agent the james bond of a wealthy future is hunting an interstellar dragon little knowing that far away his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named mr crane to assist in a similar hunt ecompassing whole star systems mr crane the insane indestructible artificial man now in a new metal body seeks to escape a bloody past he can neither forget nor truly remember and he is on a collision course with ian cormac