The curiously named Isamay, a would-be academic, is trying to write a coherent thesis about grandmothers in history from Sarah Bernhardt and George Sand to the matriarchal Queen Victoria and other influential grannies while constantly ambushed by the secrets her own family has been keeping.

Through a stellar cast of politicians, diplomats, spies and soldiers - including T.E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle - 'A Line in the Sand' tells the story of the short but crucial era when Britain and France ruled the Middle East.