It’s 1912, Manchester. Thirteen-year-old Lena Matthews comes from the rough end of town, living in a two-up and two-down with her drunken father, sickly mother and houseful of siblings. When one little sister doesn’t make it, the tragedy sparks of a series of events that transport Lena from the squalor of home to the grandeur of Glossop's Norfolk House in the Peak District, working in service for mill-owners, the Birtles family.

But all is not as it should be in that household either. There are power battles above and below stairs, and a dozen children illegally employed in mill-work. When the Birtles’ haughty son, Henry, persuades her to cover for him as he tries to discover the whereabouts of his uncle’s fortune, and his militant mother sneaks out to campaign for women's rights, Lena finds herself keeping many secrets while still trying to support her folks back in Ancoats.

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She has everything against her. She's female. She's young.
She's working class. But Lena is a fighter.  And there's nowt poor about Lena Matthews. In an adventure that takes her from Manchester's back-to-backs to the dark, dark Peak; from Glossop to London, and from servant girl to social reformer, Lena discovers her own destiny,  in some very unexpected places.