A story of struggle and hardship and one girl's battle for survival from the best-selling author of If You Were the Only Girl and Another Man's Child. Angela McCluskey comes to Birmingham from Ireland with her family as a young girl to escape the terrible poverty in her homeland. But the dream of a better life is dashed as bad fortune dogs the family. When Angela marries her childhood sweetheart, she has hopes of a brighter future, which are dashed when her husband is called up to fight in the Great War. Tragedy strikes and Angela is left to rear her frail daughter on her own, though the worst is yet to come when Angela suffers another terrible misfortune. Pregnant and destitute and already with one mouth to feed that she can ill afford, there is nowhere left to turn. What destiny awaits Angela and her unborn child? Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, will Angela forever be punished for the choices that she makes?

SynopsisA moving family drama of one young woman's fight to survive, to find her long-lost relatives and to find a place to call home. Bridgette has been hurt many times in her life. Her early years were blighted by her spoilt brother; her marriage ruined by World War Two. Now her mother is dying. And then comes a deathbed revelation - somewhere Bridgette has another family and a father. Bridgette joins the war effort and shows her courage by aiding a British Agent whose life is in danger. But, as the war draws to a close, Bridgette is still full of questions about her past and is determined to find the answers. So she sets off for Birmingham not knowing what she will discover, but desperately hoping to find a place where she can finally belong.

Family saga set in Birmingham in the years following World War Two Hannah Delaney is a young woman with a secret. It is not one that she can share with her large family still back home in Ireland, and especially not with her dying sister. Hannah's moved to England to build a better life, and has met and fallen in love with a young soldier. They intend to marry on his next leave, but then comes D Day, and he doesn't return. Hannah is left alone and pregnant. Surrendering her baby to the nuns is the only option, and Hannah grimly picks up the pieces and goes to work in a Birmingham guesthouse. Common sense tells her to agree to marry sensible Arthur Bradley, but he too has a secret. And secrets will not remain hidden for ever...

A family is divided when its favourite daughter is forced to flee rural Ireland and to seek her living in war-torn Birmingham. Bridie McCarthy loves her family's farm in the remotest part of Donegal, even though she's forced to work hard when all of her siblings leave home. She can't bear to let down her beloved parents -- until a horrible act of violence gives her no option but to run away. She turns to the one person she can trust -- big sister Mary, now settled with a family of her own in Birmingham. Life here couldn't be more different, but slowly Bridie comes to see the good side of a busy city, and begins to regain her confidence. But fate has more trouble in store, as World War Two looms, threatening everything she's fought so hard to win.

A moving family drama of one young woman's fight to survive and to find a place to call home1938: Sixteen-year-old Kate Monroe is living in Birmingham, far away from her family in Ireland. Her parents have always doted on her siblings, Sally and James, leaving no time for her. Kate harbours a dark secret, a deep longing for her cousin. Feelings she must suppress in this deeply staunch Irish-Catholic community -- even if they are reciprocated.Crazed by her infatuation, Kate is left with no option, other than to up-roots once more and seek out a new life, far away from the temptation of Tim Monroe.Will Kate find true love, or will distance make the heart grow fonder?