Not every scoundrel is black to the core, nor does every saint have a heart of gold. His heart was as black as the Earl of Hell's waistcoat. Or so he believes. And so he lives, until remorse begins to dog his footsteps. One bad decision made when Rafe Mesola was a very young man colors his whole life. But would a true scoundrel feel this amount of pain? When his friends lie dead and his family deserts him, he discovers that anyone – the good, the righteous, the innocent – anyone may have a heart of stone. Does he deserve all the blame? Beautiful as the Sky is set in the canal era of the nineteenth century, when thousands of jobs are being created and the world is rosy with prosperity, new inventions, and indefatigable ambition. Trade is booming, and the new wealth beckons smilingly to greed and pride. But the universe demands balance. Naysayers defame optimists, laborers and employers clash, visionaries make war on the status quo, bleeding hearts point fingers at tycoons, and perhaps the most exasperating crisis of all, women desert their duties and take up arms against inequality. Someone must be blamed when progress falters, but which are the aggressors and which are the aggrieved?