Growing up in extreme poverty in London, Pearl thinks life can get no worse. But when her parents discover there's yet another baby on the way, they have to tighten the belt even further. Pearl's mother decides to send her and her younger sister, Eliza, to the workhouse, where they are forced into a new life of hardship and struggle. 

Ginny's drunken father, devastated by the death of her mother and three siblings, ends up imprisoned for murder. Charlie, Ginny's eight-year-old sickly brother, is taken to the workhouse. Ginny is forced to flee her job and the unwanted advances of a baker. Close to breaking point, her beauty leads her to become Lady's Maid to the difficult Miss Diana at Lamp Hill Hall. However, all Ginny wants is to find her brother.

The first book in Anna Jacobs' wonderful Backshaw Moss series. 1935. At 36, Bella Porter is dependent on her abusive cousin, acting as an unpaid servant. When a kind relative leaves her a house in the village of Backshaw Moss, Thomas tries to take it from her, but she defies him and grasps this chance of a new start in Lancashire. It is not going to be easy, though.

1912, London. Eighteen-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, her future seems clear. But Flora's life is turned upside down when her mistress' father dies. Connie is forced to move to New York to live with her aunt until she comes of age and begs Flora to go with her. Flora has never left the country before and now faces a difficult decision.

Dilly is devastated: with her husband unable to work and four children already at home, they cannot afford to feed their newborn baby. Heartbroken, she delivers her baby girl to the Farthing family, who have just lost their own daughter to measles. This act of desperation will change the lives of both families irrevocably. But when the chance for true love finally comes, will Dilly choose family over her own happiness?

A family pulled apart. A love silenced.... For as long as Briony Valentine can remember she has been soft on Eddie, the boy next door. But their chance of romance is stifled when the Luftwaffe begin dropping bombs on the midlands. Eddie is called up to serve, as is Briony's father, tearing her world apart. As the telegrams arrive, all she can do is pray.

On the outskirts of Nuneaton stands Hatters Hall, home to the mentally insane. One rainy, dismal day in 1857, Maria Mundy arrives there to work. She is ordered to care for Isabelle Montgomery, daughter of an influential land-owner, but it becomes apparent that she has been falsely imprisoned. It’s going to take courage, determination, and resolve - but freedom is always worth fighting for.

Dotty, Lucy and Annabelle all turn up for work at Coventry's department store Owen Owen at the same time as war is declared. Dotty is an orphan, Lucy is the sole carer for her little sister, and although Annabelle has led a life of privilege until now, everyone's having to pinch the pennies at the moment. The three form an unlikely bond, and with disaster at every turn, they're going to need each other...

In Western Australia, Sarah chuckles as she describes her final will and testament—which will throw the metaphorical cat among the family pigeons—whilst sharing a bottle of wine with her neighbour Thomas as they sit on the terrace of her luxurious waterside home. Six months later, at the age of 95, she peacefully passes on. Married and widowed three times, Sarah has had a great life as a successful businesswoman. Now she's left her Australian house to her two great-nieces—on the condition that they live in it together for a year. 

Aurora Pettigrew has a loving family, a nice home, a comfortable life. She's waiting for the right man to offer marriage, and the man for her is Reid Sinclair, heir to the Sinclair fortune. But Reid's mother is against the match and unearths a secret that will tear Aurora's world apart. Unwilling to bring shame on her family and needing answers, Aurora moves to York. By chance, she reconnects with a man from her past, and before he leaves with the army to war in South Africa, he offers her security through marriage.

1850: Beatrix Fawcett is just 18 when her father tells her she is to marry a stranger. Hesitant, but with little choice, she agrees to the match - with hope for a good husband in Charles and the surprising delight of a lovely Yorkshire house in which they are to live. As Beatrix sets to making the house a home, she falls in love with it and the countryside nearby. But she does not fall in love with her husband.... It's clear Charles has chosen her simply to meet the requirements of his inheritance and has little interest in his young wife.

It’s mid-winter, and in the throes of a fierce blizzard, Elsie Redfern and her husband discover an unknown girl in their hay barn about to give birth. After the young mother dies, Elsie takes the infant in and raises her as her own daughter, her precious storm child. Gina grows into a beautiful little girl, but her safe haven turns out to be anything but. Torn away from her home and family, the child finds herself in a nightmare from which there’s no waking, but despite her misery and bewilderment, Gina’s determined to survive.

Phoebe Parsons is destitute, disgraced and alone. After her mistress tragically dies, Phoebe is forced back onto the poverty-ridden streets of Manchester by her unforgiving new master. Desperately searching for work as a domestic maid, Phoebe soon discovers her reputation is in ruins. Fearing for her future and haunted by the harshness of her abandonment, Phoebe finds herself living with thieves and drunks in the smog and squalor - until she meets Victor Hayes. 

East-End London, 1858. In London's twisting streets, it's hard to tell friend from foe. And for Katherine Martin, arriving back in London after years away, the city is crueller than she remembers. Her eyes opened to the plight of London's poor, Kate is determined to do what she can to help, even if it means defying her parents. In secret, she opens a soup kitchen. But there is a world of criminals within London's poorest alleys. Catching the notice of Harry Trader and his gang, Kate is out of her depth. Until she begins to discover that her true enemies might not be who she thought. 

Yorkshire Dales, 1850. As a terrible storm rages, Annabelle Wallis is shocked to find a distressed young woman at her cottage door, heavy with child. Moments later a baby girl is born. But by dawn, the mother has vanished, leaving behind the helpless child wrapped only in a silk peacock shawl. When news spreads that Lady Eliza Hartley, sister to a wealthy estate owner, has been found dead, Annabelle realises the terrible secret she has stumbled on. Terrified she’ll be blamed for Eliza’s death, Annabelle flees to the slums of York, where she plans to raise the orphan as her own.