When Opal Sharp finds herself and her younger siblings suddenly orphaned and destitute, she thinks things can get no worse. But soon three of them – including Opal – are struck down with the illness that took their father, and her brother Charlie is forced to make an impossible decision. Unable to afford a doctor, he knows the younger children will not survive. So, unbeknownst to Opal, Charlie takes their younger siblings to the workhouse. When she finds out, Opal is heartbroken.

Charlie starts taking risks to try to support what’s left of the Sharp family and earn Opal’s forgiveness, but he takes it too far and finds himself in trouble with the law. Soon, he is sent on a convict ship to Australia.

As poor Opal is forced to say goodbye to the final member of her family, she makes a promise to reunite them all one day.

Will she ever see her family again?

An Orphan’s Journey

1874.

Growing up in extreme poverty in London, Pearl thinks life can get no worse. But when her parents discover there’s yet another baby on the way, they have to tighten the belt even further. Pearl’s mother decides to send her and her younger sister Eliza to the workhouse, where they are forced into a new life of hardship and struggle.

Pearl’s hopes are raised when the workhouse offers the sisters a new life in Canada and they board an orphan ship transporting unwanted children across the seas. Pearl hopes their luck has finally changed when she and Eliza are hired by the kindly Mrs Forbes to work in her grand house together. But when Pearl meets their mistress’s bullying son Monty he reveals he will stop at nothing to make her life a misery.

Will Pearl ever find the home she so craves?

A Simple Wish

1885.

Life is hard for Ruby Carter. Working at her parents’ bakery, her gentle mother protects young Ruby from her cruel father and loves her unconditionally. That is until her mother is stricken with a fatal illness and, from her deathbed, reveals that Ruby was adopted.

Overcome by grief and alone with the violent man she once called her father, Ruby has no choice but to flee. At just fifteen, homeless and alone, she is relieved when a kindly stranger named Mrs Bamber takes pity on her and welcomes poor Ruby into her home.

But soon, Ruby learns Mrs Bamber is not as generous as she first seemed – she forces Ruby into a life of crime as a jewel thief in Birmingham’s jewellery quarter. With nothing to her name and nowhere to go, Ruby has no choice but to steal. But Ruby is determined that she will atone for what she’s done and be reunited with her birth parents.

Ruby’s only wish is to find her family.

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