This is a story of idealism and disillusionment, of love and betrayal--in short, of the human condition. It is also the story of an extraordinary man and an Elizabethan manor by the River Thames that came to symbolize for him a slice of heaven here on Earth. The man in question is William Morris, a creative giant of the Victorian era, and the place is Kelmscott Manor.

Let's get one thing straight--Henri Mouhot did not discover Angkor Wat. Yet he is widely credited with popularising the place in the imagination of westerners. Though several other Europeans had been there and written about it before, none managed to describe it as evocatively as Mouhot did, in both words and delightful sketches.