DWELLING PLACE

Set in County Durham in the 1830s, 15 year old Cissie Brodie loses her parents to cholera and is forced out of the family cottage and left to raise her nine brothers and sisters by herself. Although desperately poor, strong-willed Cissie determines to build a new home for them all, their own little shelter to keep them from the workhouse. They have friends, but charity cannot always spare them the harsh reality of their struggle, and when Cissie attracts the unwanted attentions of a local landowner, her world seems close to collapse. Can love when it arrives teach her not to fear the world beyond the dwelling place? A novel of resilience by the queen of raw family romances. 415pp, paperback.