Lola Breezy, a young woman living in a modest corner of Bayswater, possesses an uncanny gift for drawing the passionate attention of men while remaining utterly detached. Raised by ordinary parents, she discovers the memoirs of a celebrated French ancestress who was a court favorite, and the glamour of this legacy captures her imagination. For ten years, her aunt Hannah, housekeeper to the prominent and ascetic Home Secretary Arthur Fallaray, brings home backstairs gossip about the statesman's lonely life, his unhappy marriage to the eccentric Lady Feodorowna, and his courageous political stands. Fallaray becomes the sole focus of Lola's romantic and ambitious daydreams.
She resolves to enter his household as a lady's maid to learn the manners of his world and eventually offer him the devotion and comfort he lacks. Through a series of bold maneuvers and chance encounters, Lola secures the position under Lady Feo's very nose, moving within the opulent walls of the Dover Street mansion. She navigates the complex social strata below and above stairs, handling the clumsy affections of an admirer named Ernest Treadwell and the more sophisticated advances of a distinguished former officer, Sir Peter Chalfont, while maintaining her singular focus on Fallaray. As political crises mount and the nation faces revolutionary labor unrest and Irish turmoil, Lola waits for her opportunity to cross the threshold into Fallaray's private life. The narrative reaches a delicate balance of longing and stratagem, exploring the heavy price of ambition and the profound need for human tenderness.
