The chalk cliffs of Devon are crumbling into the sea, and a widow and her daughter are about to learn just how ruthless the land and its people can be. When their cottage falls into the collapsing cliffs, Jane Marley and young Winefred find themselves wandering the rainy November roads of Seaton, seeking shelter, work, anything to survive. Jane's pride burns hot enough to shame the locals who look past her, but pride doesn't fill an empty belly or keep the cold at bay. What follows is a story of fierce, sometimes destructive love between a mother who refuses to kneel and a daughter who must somehow find her own way through the wreckage. Baring-Gould writes with unsentimental precision about the mathematics of poverty, the cold shoulder of community, and the terrible choices facing women who have nothing but each other. For readers who gravitate toward Victorian novels that treat hardship without flinching, this is a quiet discovery worth making.
