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. 

Forced first into a harsh life of servitude under the philandering lord Hazelhurst and later to the clutches of the lawyer, Mr. Quigley, Demelza knows she must escape before her virtue is compromised. Only her growing love for Nathaniel, the young master of Hazelhurst Grange, gives her strength to carry on, but when clues point to Mr. Quigley’s involvement in her father’s death, she is thrust out of the house.

For the Burrows family, life is hard among the poorest of Liverpool. The port town by the Mersey is beautiful but bleak - for some a place of fortune, for others a daily struggle to survive. To help her family, the young, pretty, and penniless Lesley Burrows decides to get a job at her uncle’s flour mill. She does not realize that hidden behind the dark walls of the mill, family secrets wait to pounce.

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.

Caroline is an orphan. Vulnerable and passed from family member to family member, until the fateful day she disappears in Surrey Gardens. All hope seems lost, until Arthur stumbles through the doors of the Lanyard Arms. Recently released from backbreaking punishment for a crime he did not commit, he is shocked and dismayed at what he discovers. Not only that, his heart is also captured by the mysterious Miss Davey.

York, 1852. When Caroline Lawson becomes a young widow, her grief is deepened by the loss of her farm. A rash decision to travel to York to find work doesn't turn out as she expected. With money running low, Caroline fears she will soon have no choice but the workhouse. However, she is not without hope, and with her new friends, feisty Trixie, and her two little sisters and the unique Mussy, Caroline learns she is stronger than she realised and that even in the worst of times, friendship is all you need.

When Daisy Stanley's father tragically dies in a mining accident and her mother spirals into despair, the weight of responsibility falls upon the young six-year-old's shoulders.[

Life is hard for a plain, unloved, urchin like Ruby Brandon. Alone in the world with little to bring her joy other than the occasional orphanage outings to Wood Horse Farm, Ruby has nothing but her dreams to hold on to. 

From an early age, Penelope Fowler dreams of escaping the grip of poverty. She helps her servant mother in the Eglinton House but prays one day she will be free to decide her own destiny.... Young Master Martin Eglinton accompanies his father to Peru and is horrified to discover that his family runs a cruel empire. Seeing the brutality of the fortune he is heir to, Master Martin’s return is wracked with guilt and sickness.

Doxie Shaw suffers bitterly in an orphanage in Victorian London. As she struggles to survive, she tries to comfort the younger children, but her kindness quickly costs her the only home she's ever known. Thrown into the streets at the tender age of nine, Doxie's gentle heart tries to keep on loving and hoping in a world that seems bent on destroying her. Faced by one trial after another, Doxie becomes acquainted with the depth of cruelty in her city.

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.

With the heat of their beloved India far behind them, Evie Davenport and her widowed British Army officer father, are starting a new life in England. But Evie is struggling. With her dearest mother gone, Yorkshire with its cold, damp countryside and strict societal rules makes Evie feel suffocated and alone. Her friendship with Sophie Bellingham, the gently reared daughter of a wealthy rail baron, is Evie’s only comfort. Until the arrival of local cotton mill owner, Alexander Lucas. Newly returned from America, it is expected Alexander will marry and finally make England his home.

Kathryn has watched her mother suffer through many miscarriages, and prays to one day be able to help women like her. When her mother’s latest baby dies, her father callously abandons them. With no home and no income, Kathryn must put her dreams on hold to care for her ailing mother and younger sister. She must find work quickly. For a middle-class girl, the match factory is a form of hell, but it keeps a roof over their head and a little food in their bellies.

Abandoned by all who should protect her, the workhouse swallows the young life of Olivia Coomb. It also swallows her voice. Who could ever love a mute and broken girl like Olivia? Franklin Slater wants nothing more, but society slays his advances, and Olivia is forced to flee once again.

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.