Ceylon, 1906: Stella Polegate steps off the ship in Colombo harbour. As her father’s unofficial research assistant, she’s thrilled to explore this island of ancient temples and verdant tea plantations - yet painfully aware that her brilliant mind will remain uncredited, simply because she is a woman.

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When her father’s doctoral student makes unwelcome advances, Stella’s carefully ordered world shatters. She finds an unexpected ally in Norton Baxter, a principled young civil servant whose growing disillusionment with colonial rule mirrors her own questioning of societal constraints.

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Should she accept the limitations imposed upon her gender or fight for the academic future she deserves? And can she trust Norton when every man in her life has sought to control her destiny?

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From the misty highlands of Kandy to the bustling port of Colombo, Stella’s journey becomes a defiant quest not only for love but for the freedom to become the author of her own story.