It's 1890, and Josie Gray is an innocent and beautiful fifteen-year-old when Adam McGuigan, the youngest son of a dangerous and influential crime family spots her singing in a Sunderland public house. Adam is handsome and charismatic, sweeping Josie off her feet with his beguiling lies and promises. He charms her into marrying him on her sixteenth birthday, but on her wedding night the fairy tale ends. Josie finds herself trapped in a living nightmare...

18-year-old Flora Butler is going up in the world. She has the prized position of lady's maid to young Constance Ogilvie, and is able to provide for her beloved parents and four younger siblings. She has even fallen in love, and though she does not feel quite ready to marry the charming Jamie Branning, her future seems clear. But Flora's life is turned upside down when her mistress's father dies in a tragic accident. Connie is forced to move to New...

When Jenny's mother abandons her and her younger siblings, Jenny is left at the mercy of her abusive father Henry. And when Henry beats his eldest daughter so badly that she ends up in the hospital, it seems like there's nowhere left for them all to go. But factory worker Craig has fallen head over heels for Jenny, and he offers her a place to stay. Happy at last, Jenny begins a new life with him, but when tragedy strikes, she's left to pick up the...

Bonnie Lindsay is born into a travelling fair community in the north-east in 1918, and when her mother dies just months later Bonnie's beloved father becomes everything to her. Then, at the tender age of ten years old, disaster strikes. Heartbroken, Bonnie's left at the mercy of her embittered grandmother and her lecherous step-grandfather. Five years later, the events of one terrible night cause Bonnie to flee to London, where she starts to earn...

Molly McKenzie is only eleven years old when her abusive father beats her to within an inch of her life. Escaping from the hovel she calls home, Molly is found by kind fisherfolk, sick and near death. With them she experiences the love of a family for the first time and, even though life is hard, she is content. Time passes and Molly's looking ahead to a future with the boy she loves, but then a terrible tragedy rips her life apart. Once again she's...

Two orphans must battle heartache and despair in the latest novel from the bestselling author of An Orphans Courage and The Orphans of Halfpenny Street. Jonny has had a bad start in life and has been taken in by a neighbour after the death of his mother. Small for his age, he is prey to a band of local thugs so joins the boxing club and learns to defend himself. When a violent altercation ends in tragedy, Jonny runs away and meets a homeless young...

Seventeen-year-old Constance has had a privileged upbringing in Clapham, with staff to attend to her every need. But her parents have always been cold and distant, never showing her love. Craving affection, Constance falls into the arms of Albie Jones, the cook's grandson. But one fateful encounter leaves her ashamed and pregnant, and she is soon shunned from the family home. Heartbroken and threatened by scandal, Constance is forced to wed Albie...

Nancy seems to have found her happily ever after. She is surrounded by family and engaged to marry the man of her dreams. But when her fiance's father insists they wait a year to prove that their love is true, the young couple's feelings are put to the test. The path of true love never runs smooth, but as the snow begins to fall, Nancy will need to trust her heart for her Christmas wishes to come true.

At the end of Hawthorn Close there is a charming park which boasts two magnificent magnolia trees, and an assortment of houses and units. Several new occupants are moving into the neighbourhood and will live in units fronting the park, built and managed by a charity for people needing a home for a while. Amongst them are Brett, 18, an orphan just out of the foster child system; Carla, who is escaping an abusive ex-partner; and Matthew Woodley, a widower...

As snow falls outside Abbotsford vicarage on Christmas Eve, Rose Northwood finds a child lying destitute in the manger of the town's Nativity display. Reminded of her younger brother, who died at Christmastime, she is determined to nurse the young boy back to health. But the child has lost his memory and can't recall where he came from... Will Rose discover the boy's true identity, and reunite him with his lost family this winter?