A love story, a social history, and an act that echoes through generations.
Set in the late 1800's, Marthe Jocelyn's stunning new novel is told in the voices of four people whose lives and destinies intertwine. There's Mary, who begins "exceeding ignorant" (apart from what a girl can learn from family mayhem, a dead mother, and a grim stepmother) and winds up encountering lust and betrayal when she becomes a servant in a fine house in London. Mary's nemesis is another maid in the household, Eliza. Eliza also knows lust and betrayal, but she doesn't know who is betraying who.
Mary's and Eliza's actions will intersect with a foundling home in London, where Oliver is a teacher who tries to avoid feeling anything that will perhaps make him live a real life. And then there's the foundling boy, James. Who will he grow up to be if he doesn't know where he comes from?
In the chaotic way of every life, where the past, present, and future collide, Marthe Jocelyn has traced a story that is heartbreaking and unforgettable.