Young, naïve Francis Irvine is left alone and penniless with the unexpected death of her father. Faced with the drudgery of poverty in nineteenth century London, she escapes England, hoping for a better life in South Africa.
Marriage to her cousin Edwin, a forthright young doctor who is tirelessly fighting the smallpox epidemic sweeping the Cape, seems to provide a refuge. But her hopes are dashed when she is confronted by the reality of life in Africa, and tempted by the charming William Westbrook.
Set against a backdrop of the unrelenting African landscape and inspired by the diary of a doctor working in South Africa, The Fever Tree explores one woman's struggle to decide her own fate, and in doing so she learns the true meaning of love, and living.
