On the surface, she was the unmarried Victorian aunt, whose sparse, unfulfilled life echoed the expectations of those she drudged for.

But, happily boating down the Rhine with her brother and his wife, the sight of a fellow traveller, Edward Newman, releases the hissing flood waters of her subconscious. Dark and dangerous, they sweep Charlotte onward towards the watershed of her life.

'The quality of the writing is so extraordinarily high that I could hardly believe it was a first novel' Margaret Forster

'I raced through Rhine Journey. Mrs Schlee's simple and direct style makes for very easy reading. This is a first novel of considerable promise.' Olivia Manning

'A journey down the Rhine in the company of Ann Schlee is the purest, simples pleasure' Sunday Telegraph