Birdcage

An emotional young nun, convinced that she has betrayed her vows, runs away from her Portuguese convent and wades into the sea to expiate her disgrace by drowning. Unconscious, and at the ultimate moment, she is rescued by an easygoing, unambitious Englishman, Richard Farley. The next day, in a comfortable villa, the late Sister Luiza wakes to a new existence as Sarah Branton.
Sarah, an English girl dowered with an antique jewelled girdle of great value through her long-dead and highly unorthodox mother, Lady Jean Branton, finds the idyllic life now opening before her and her lover, Richard Farley, remorselessly threatened by the pitiless servants of State Security in London.
Set in Portugal, Gloucestershire and London, Birdcage is a poignant story of love and suspense that magnificently demonstrates Victor Canning’s unrivalled position as a master story-teller.