''Elizabeth Gill is a born storyteller'' Trisha Ashley

After Ruth Dixon''s mother deserts her on Christmas Eve, her father comes home drunk and commits an unthinkable act. Without money or friends she has nowhere to go, but when he hurts her a second time, she knows what she must do.

She is rescued by Jay, a businessman, who takes her to the convent where she meets Sister Madeline. Along with the rest of the nuns, Maddy provides food, shelter and education for orphans.

Ruth comes to see her new friends as family and things are finally looking up. But then a pit accident changes everything, and they all stand to lose something - or someone - they love...

From the bestselling author of Miss Appleby''s Academy and Nobody''s Child comes a new series about the lost orphans of Durham and the nuns who take them in...