The interesting story of Thomas Muir, one of the so-called Scottish Martyrs, a group of men condemned to long terms of transportation for their promulgation of the democratic views of Thomas Paine and others. The author has imaginatively widened the tale to include a romantic connection with a young English woman, married to a French hotel-keeper, who meets Muir at a party given by Horace Walpole. Though never formalised, the relationship finally leads him to her home in Chantilly, near Paris, where he dies at the early age of 34.

A democrat and egalitarian, Muir was, perhaps, unfortunate in coming to public notice at a time when the excesses of the French Revolution were causing so much anxiety to the British Establishment. He travelled to France, meeting such major figures as Robespierre and Talleyrand, the book giving an informative description of life in Paris at the start of the downfall of Louis XIV. Muir is portrayed as principled and well-meaning but comes over as somewhat naive. He makes a second visit to Paris hoping to intercede for the king, unfortunately arriving at the moment of the royal execution: he then travels to Ireland where he is made an honorary member of the proscribed United Irishmen. He returns to Scotland rather than seeking sanctuary in America and then is surprised when he is arrested, tried and brutally sentenced. For much of the rest of his life he carries the vain conviction that his ideas will soon prevail and that he will have a public pardon.

The latter half of the book deals with the epic tale of his transportation to Botany Bay, his escape to the Americas, travels across Mexico and imprisonment in Cuba. His revolutionary friends and background don't go down well with the monarchist Spaniards and he is taken back to Spain as a prisoner. More misfortunes befall him but he does get back to France as a friend of the Revolution and has some recognition before dying a physically broken man.

The author keeps the story moving well while giving the reader good descriptions of the wide range of situations in which the hero finds himself. They were turbulent - and fascinating - times.