"In the early nineteen thirties, an ambitious young Scotsman sets out on the long sea voyage to Penang, eager to take up his post running a maternity hospital in the colony. On the journey out, he quickly makes the acquaintance of two beautiful sisters - one single, the other married - also making their way out to the Far East. In the confines of the ship, when conventional morality is shelved for the duration, the seeds of a scandal are sown." "Seventy years later, Edward Mackay almost dies of a sudden and devastating illness. While he is recuperating in the family home, and trying to come to terms with his own mortality, he stumbles upon a box labelled in his father's writing with the word Penang. The box's contents, together with a casual remark of his mother's, sets Edward off on a quest. From his new home on the wild and beautiful island of Orkney, Edward begins to unravel the story of a man he loved but didn't know: his father, Dr. Alexander Mackay, now years dead after a long and blameless career. What he discovers, and the help he receives along the way, astonishes him and begins to shed light on his own existence."--BOOK JACKET.