Isabel has accepted an invitation to serve on the advisory committee of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, but soon finds herself swept up in an all-too-familiar dilemma. David is the grandson of a Scottish clan chief and is supportive of Scottish nationalism. But his fervent beliefs are threatening family harmony, especially because his sister Catriona?s socialist views put her at odds with her brother. When their mother, Laura, a fellow committee...

It is summer in Edinburgh and Isabel Dalhousie is once again caught between ?gossip? and significant rumour. It is none of her business that Patricia, the mother of her son Charlie?s little friend Basil, is estranged from Basil?s father, or that the woman has a somewhat brazen attitude to childcare. And yet, it is curious. Isabel, however, has much else on her mind as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics. Along with the work involved for its impending...