The House of Help for Friendless Girls

In the dead of night, a young woman is found on the doorstep of the House of Help for Friendless Girls. . . Winter 1887. Matron Hetty Barlow suspects Hope is lying when she claims to be suffering from amnesia. The girl is taken in, but it isn't long before her pregnancy is discovered, which could put the future of the house - a new experiment in dealing with destitute women - in jeopardy. They named her Hope, but Emma Hyde knows she can't keep up her deception forever. She's hundreds of miles away from home, but her well-to-do parents will be searching for her.

Nan Turpin is in trouble again, accused of stealing. She's guilty. Cast out by her family, she turns to the House of Help for Friendless Girls, which promises Nan a fresh start - it's the House or gaol. She and warden Hetty immediately clash, but Hetty has her own secrets to keep her busy. With her sister Amelia drawing ever closer to their dark family past, will Hetty find the courage to reveal the truth before it's too late? As romance blossoms for Nan outside of the House, can she resist falling back into her lightfingered ways and forge a future for herself?

Alice and Isaac have been close friends since childhood but their paths diverge when they discover they have very different values... Alice Leigh is being prepared for marriage by her mother but has her eyes opened to the injustices faced by girls and women when she gets involved with the charity that runs the House of Help for Friendless Girls, befriending worker Emma Hyde. She has dreams of going to London to continue the fight for women's rights. But her mother won't allow it.