The Street Orphans

Description

The Street Orphans is an emotional story set in 1850s Lancashire, from Mary Wood, the author of In Their Mother's Footsteps and Brighter Days Ahead. Born with a club foot in a remote village in the Pennines, Ruth is feared and ridiculed by her superstitious neighbours who see her affliction as a sign of witchcraft. When her father is killed in an accident and her family evicted from their cottage, she hopes to leave her old life behind, to start afresh in the Blackburn cotton mills. But tragedy strikes once again, setting in motion a chain of events that will unravel her family's lives. Their fate is in the hands of the Earl of Harrogate, and his betrothed, Lady Katrina. But more sinister is the scheming Marcia, Lady Katrina's jealous sister. Impossible dreams beset Ruth from the moment she meets the Earl. Dreams that lead her to hope that he will save her from the terrible fate that awaits those accused of witchcraft. Dreams that one day her destiny and the Earl's will be entwined.

Born the thirteenth child of fifteen to a middle-class mother and an East End barrow boy, Mary Wood's family were poor but rich in love. Mary raised four children and has numerous grandchildren, step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren. An avid reader, she first put pen to paper in 1989, and is now a full-time novelist. Her novels include The Breckton Novels, In Their Mother's Footsteps and Brighter Days Ahead.