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She’s fallen on hard times but she’ll come back stronger…

Slung out from her home and onto the slum streets of Manchester at the tender age of twelve, Perdita Barratt has fallen on hard times. Each day she must toil to earn a penny to secure a bed at a lodging house. Each day is a struggle to survive.

But after a chance encounter with Silas Winkworth, a widowed cart driver who is in search of someone to look after his household, things start to look less bleak… And as Perdy settles into the domestic routine of her new life as a daily, Winkworth Cottage becomes her safe haven.

Yet this soon falls to the wayside when Honora, Silas’s estranged granddaughter, appears on their doorstep. Unbeknownst to Silas, who has welcomed Honora into his home with open arms, Perdy must steel herself to rise above her incessant snide remarks and wicked taunts…

But is there a darker motive than greed behind Honora’s return to Collyhurst, and how far will Perdy go to uncover the truth?

© Emma Hornby 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025