In the wake of losing both her parents, young Joanna believed Bernard Woods was the solution to all her problems. It’s only after her baby, Della, is born that Joanna discovers Bernard is a scoundrel and a drunkard, more interested in gambling than in caring for his little family. When Bernard’s past catches up to him and Joanna finds him dead, police suspect she was the one who drove the knife into his heart. She has no choice but to take her baby and flee into the perilous streets of Victorian London, where children are a commodity and women a convenience…

A cruel Christmas tragedy. A soldier saved by the actions of a little girl. One woman’s determined journey from helpless rags to the rich arms of love.

London 1890. Stella Green has lived a hard life. Left alone to care for her sister while her mother works, Stella soon realizes what her mother's work entails, and when she is pushed to start work herself, she runs to the streets of London. As thievery and lies become her daily life, she meets a kind boy who provides food for her, but Stella never sees him again. Worried about her sister, Stella plans to take her away before she is forced by their mother into a demoralizing lifestyle.

Dora Wentworth is born out of wedlock in one of the poorest parts of Liverpool. Abandoned by her family, she is brought by God into the arms of a childless fisherman and his wife. But life is cruel, and when an accident prevents the fisherman from working, they are forced to give her up to the orphanage. As Dora grows, neglected and alone, she almost gives up on her dreams of one day having a home and a love she can call her own. Then, through the kindness of a stranger, Dora discovers that there is always hope and embarks on a path that might finally lead her to the family she has dreamed of.

Abandoned on the streets by a mother who doesn't want them, Maggie and her young brothers are forced into the cruel confines of the workhouse. When Maggie is forced to leave the workhouse, and her terrified brothers, behind to begin work as a seamstress, she vows to get her family back together.

A helpless baby is forsaken in a churchyard. This is how life begins for orphan Emma. Unwanted, cast aside, and thrown on the mercy of strangers, she grows up wondering why. And what are the mysterious gifts each year, placed where her cradle was once abandoned? Now blossomed to youthful beauty but shunned by society, the man she loves is forbidden to marry or court her. 

The untimely death of her beloved sister and the soul-crushing grief of her mother push Daisy to an agonizing juncture – one that leaves her all alone to fend for herself against seemingly insurmountable odds. But Daisy is not a quitter! Far from defeated, her spirit remains unyielding, fuelled by the unwavering belief in her mother's eventual recovery and the promise of a brighter future. Surely her sister's death was not in vain.

Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Kirby believes she's all alone in the world when her mother is killed in a bombing raid. But then a mysterious aunt comes forward and offers her a home in the small Yorkshire village where she and her husband George run the local pub. Charlotte finds it hard to adjust to rural life. She doesn't mind helping out in the pub, but she can't understand why her Aunt Hilda seems to resent her so. When a group of French orphans are brought to live in the big house, Charlotte volunteers to help look after them.

Being a maid at the Highmore estate is hard work, but it offers food and a warm place to sleep. And it is there she meets Nate, an orphan like herself. Forming a fast bond, Charlotte is thankful she can count on Nate. Until tragedy strikes, and Nate is removed from the estate, leaving Charlotte shattered.

Josiah Schrock has his hands full. His two young nephews have temporarily been living with him since losing their parents in a tragic accident. Unable to care for them while at work, he hires Olivia King to watch them and manage the household. What he doesn’t count on, is how easily Olivia slips into the role. Josiah’s girlfriend, Marjorie, is none too pleased. As Christmas grows near, the boys are to be sent to Pennsylvania to live with kin there. However, Josiah now loves them dearly. How can he send them away?

Lady Napier is desperate to give her high-society husband an heir. Devastated by the birth of yet another girl, a secretive plot is hatched to replace the disappointing child with the newborn son of a local village woman.

In the heart of 1875 Victorian London, where the city's ruthless streets guard the darkest of secrets, two orphaned souls stand defiant in the face of adversity. Prepare to embark on an extraordinary Christmas journey - a tale of unyielding courage and a love that defies all odds. As their beloved mother departs from this world, young Emma is burdened by the haunting question of why their father vanished into the shadows. Her quest for answers takes a backseat to the relentless struggle for survival.

Juliette Purcell has never known anything beyond her small, miserable world: the tiny tenement where she lives with her mother and brother; the grimy street filled with terrifying homeless men; and the market square where they scrounge scraps of food. Her mother, a washerwoman, works incessantly, yet Juliette and her brother Reuben often go hungry.

Motherless Ten-year-old Milcah Fox lives with her father and six younger siblings, collecting dropped scraps of coal in order to feed her poor and hungry family. Life for the Fox household is difficult, but the family hold themselves together with faith, love and their shared joy for stories.

East London, 1938. Nine-year-old Daisy Purbright is a country girl at heart, and together with beloved brother Bobby, they've enjoyed the endless freedoms of rural England. But when her father gambles the family's fortunes on a speculative investment in London's docklands, Daisy and her family are swept up into the intrigue, danger and excitement. The Purbrights desperately attempt to settle to a new life in the East End, but the whisperings of war grow louder. Then Adolf Hitler conducts a paralysing bombardment on London, and war tightens its grip.