In 1901 the 'real' Elizabeth holidayed on the Baltic island of Rugen with just her maid, a coachman, a carriage piled with luggage, and a woman friend. But from such unpromising beginnings Elizabeth weaves a captivating farrago round her encounters. There's the bishop's wife and her personable son, a dressmaker and, astonishingly, a long-lost cousin -- Charlotte -- who is trying to evade the pursuit of her professor husband. Meanwhile, Elizabeth's friend goes on knitting, and knitting, and knitting, in a travel story of great charm, wit and perception.