Perle Butcher Lyon is from a long line of historical observers. Her favorite occupation as a child was listening to the stories of her parents, grandparents and great grandparents, when they were growing up. Her goal was to create romantic ephemera of a period that represented the best and the worst of humanity.
1960, Indonesia. The tropical paradise is facing depression and dictatorship. Nursing student Heidi West is so determined not to be offered up on a marital auction block by her mother that she accepts a post that no other student has been willing to take: a post as a surgeon's assistant off the coast of Java.
In 1936 the world was in turmoil; depression swept over the land stealing jobs and hope, and from Europe came rumblings of another war. Women had few choices: they could teach, nurse or marry, and none of these options brought a guarantee of a better life. Chances for success and for happiness were still in the iron grip of men…