When an unassuming young Melbourne woman bumped into a handsome naval lieutenant in a Colombo hotel swimming pool in 1926 she would never have dreamed of one day being the wife of an English duke with three castles.

Demure but feisty Nell Stead and Alexander 'Mandy' Drogo Montagu, son of the ninth Duke of Manchester, fell in love that day and were married within months in a union that surprised English society. Together, the unlikely couple set out to rescue the family's fortunes that had been crippled by taxes and financial mismanagement.

In a world of contrasts, they battle the excesses and eccentricities of dubious relatives under the threat of war to revive a dying estate, including a castle in which Catherine of Aragon spent her final days.

Nell's story is page-turning. The only Australian woman to ever join the British aristocracy as a duchess, her life is a wild ride through England, America and Kenya as the House of Montagu crumbles through four generations.