Queenie Bonner is only two when she is taken from her large family in the slums to a big house in the country. Frightened and confused, she yearns for her nine brothers and sisters, especially her favourite brother, Harry. Albert and Mary Warrender rename her Eleanor, bringing her up as their own, and as time passes, Ellie forgets about her other family. But 15 years later, when Mary dies, Albert tells her the truth about her background, and she is determined to trace her forgotten family. The search holds pleasure, distress and even danger as she traces her eight siblings, but one remains missing... Harry. And she knows she will never rest until he is found.
Georgia Driffield is passionate, wilful, resourceful, intelligent but often foolhardy, as she grows from girl to woman in the years between the two wars. It is not until she discovers the extraordinary life of her great, great grandmother, Chantal, that she finds a way which will reconcile her to her adoption, reunite her with her adoptive parents and, unexpectedly, discover the true meaning of love.
London, 1941: a woman is found wandering and injured after an air raid. She remembers nothing of who she is; only that she has lost something very precious... As the little boy waits in the orphanage, he hopes his mother will return. But then he finds himself on board a ship bound for Australia, the promise of a golden life ahead, and wonders: how will she find him in a land across the oceans? In Perth, a lonely wife takes in the child, believing him to be an orphan. But then she discovers the secret of his past. Should she keep quiet, or tell the truth and risk losing the boy who has become her life? Set in London and Australia and inspired by heartrending real events, this is a story of human spirit and the enduring power of love.
