On an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Britain, they say the impossible has come to pass. Women run the civic institutions. Decide how the islands' money is spent. Till the land. Tend to their families. Teach the men how to be better. They say the woman who made it so is Eva Harcourt Vane, and now that she has died, the gynotopia that was her life's work may be destroyed. But they don't know about Cwen.Cwen has been here longer than any of the buildings and any of the people. The clouds are her children, and the waves are too. Her name has ancient roots, reaching down into the earth beneath her feet. She knows this place has always belonged to women. And she will do anything to protect them.This remarkable novel is a portrait of female power and female potential, both to shelter and to harm. Who are we? Islanders or mainlanders, migrants or landowners, husbands or wives? And how do we share these islands we call home?