In a third-century settlement on the fringes of the Roman Empire a new wife is fascinated by a strange cult; in 1922 an artist begins his studies at the avant-garde Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany; and a young man uses his inheritance to establish a gay bookshop in 1980s London. In each place, a small coterie is closely connected and separated from the larger world. In each story, the larger world regards the small coterie and its passionately-held beliefs and secrets with suspicion and hostility.

The Emperor Waltz is a magnificent story of eccentricity, its struggle, its triumph, its influence - but also its defeat.