Based on a real family's history this first book in The Dohlen Inheritance trilogy spans the years 1913-1932. It tells the extraordinary stories of Gabriele, Emil and Dorinda Dohlen as they make their way from Germany after the Great War to Prohibition America. Haunted right from the start by the legacy their German mother leaves them the Dohlen orphans fight to control their destiny by following in their pioneering father's footsteps. They each create fascinating and very different lives as their fortunes rise and fall. Prejudice and cruelty, greed and bigotry make their days hell as the children try to break away from the domination of corrupt relatives, a bungling guardian-and each other. Misunderstanding and tragedy overtake the young Dohlens as fate pulls them back to Germany, where the threat of Adolf Hitler's policies eventually leads them to an unexpected realisation of their true inheritance.