A warm-hearted saga set in the North East - Lottie is just three years old when her mammy dies and she is sent to the workhouse. Just thirteen when a job is found for her looking after a miner's family. And still a mere lass when she runs away. A childhood spent in poverty...
A childhood spent in poverty, skivvying for other people, has left no opportunity for Lottie's education. Yet she is bright, and has ambitions to write. When Josiah Bateman, a kindly Methodist preacher, introduces adult literacy classes at the Chapel, Lottie seizes her chance...