The powerful rags to riches story of a girl who tries to defy social conventions . . .
As the daughter of a mining family, Katie Mulholland is forced to find work as a scullery maid in the house of the Rosiers. But the beautiful young girl soon captures the eye of her employer's evil son, who rapes her and leaves her pregnant.
Quick to dismiss Katie, the family force her into a loveless marriage with the cruel manager of the Rosier mines. But Katie's fate changes course when one man offers her the opportunity to make her own fortune, and to discover real love . . .
Spanning Katie's life from 1860 to the height of WWII, this is a spellbinding, triumphant, timeless drama from the pen of a brilliantly skilled storyteller.
“Queen of raw family romances”
Telegraph
“Humour, toughness, resolution and generosity are Cookson virtues . . . In the specialised world of women's popular fiction, Cookson has created her own territory”
Helen Dunmore, The Times
“Catherine Cookson soars above her rivals”
Mail on Sunday