Seven-year-old Lissie Fairweather is the apple of her father’s eye, but when a tragedy strikes their family, Lissie must make her own way in the world.

Dora Fairweather wasn’t cut out to be a wife and mother, and as soon as she’s able, she turns her back on her young daughter Lissie. With no parents to protect her, Lissie has no option but the dangerous streets of soot-sodden Bradford or the workhouse orphanage. Life in the orphanage is bleak and Lissie longs for the warm embrace of her beloved father.

As the years pass, Lissie learns to enjoy the camaraderie of the other girls in the workhouse, and when she’s taken under the wing of matron Connie Briggs, things begin to look up. A move to the seaside of Scarborough, friends and even love are finally within Lissie’s grasp.

But she can never forget her father, cobbler Tom Fairweather, and the terrible secret she has carried all these years. Can her heart ever truly be at peace unless she finally discovers his fate? And with the drumbeats of war on the horizon, what will be the fate of the lass who survived the workhouse...

Chrissie Walsh’s brilliant stories are perfect for fans of Katie Flynn, Dilly Court and Kitty Neale.

What readers are saying about Chrissie Walsh:

‘Outstanding - laughs, tears, this book will give you it all!’

‘The** characters are so real** and you felt all their fears and happiness... True friendship saw them through very difficult times.’

‘I found myself totally involved in the lives of the main characters. When they laughed I laughed, when they cried, yes, I cried. The author definitely has a way of writing that really captures your heart.’

‘Chrissie certainly knows how to grab the reader's attention and draw them into what proves to be one hell of a story and then some. Chrissie clearly cares about her characters and this shines through in the very vivid and realistic way in which she describes them… I love the way in which Chrissie makes the reader feel as though they are part of the story and at the heart of the action.’