Behind the large house, the fragrant camomile lawn stretches down to the Cornish cliffs. Here, in the dizzying heat of August 1939, five cousins gather at their aunt's house for their annual holiday ritual. For most, it is the last summer of their youth, filled with the heady exhilarations and freedoms of lost innocence, as well as the fears of the coming war.

The Camomile Lawn moves from Cornwall to London and back again over the years, weaving the stories of the cousins, their family, and friends. They are united by shared losses, lovers, family ties, and the absurd conditions imposed by war as their paths cross and recross.

Mary Wesley presents an extraordinarily vivid and lively picture of wartime London: the rationing, imaginatively circumvented; the fallen houses; the parties; the newfound comforts of sex; and the desperate humour of survival—all evoked with warmth, clarity, and stunning wit. Through it all, the cousins and their friends try to hold on to the part of themselves that laughed and played dangerous games on that camomile lawn.