Workhouse Angel

Life has always been tough for May and Gus Lavender. Their father went away to sea never to return, and then their mother falls victim to the typhus sweeping through Liverpool. Regarded as orphans by the authorities, May and Gus are sent to the Brownlow Hill Workhouse. Like all workhouses, Brownlow is the last resort for the poor and the destitute. May and Gus will have to rely on each other more than ever if they are to survive the hardships to come....

Summer, 1936. Newly trained midwife Hazel Price returns to the Yorkshire streets of her childhood, only to find that her modern methods and 'stuck-up' ways bring her into conflict with her family and other formidable residents of Raglan Road. Determined, Hazel battles on, assisting with home deliveries and supporting the local GP. The days are long and hard, but Hazel brings knowledge and compassion to the work she loves.

Lizzie is an orphan living with her aunt Annie, uncle Perce and two boy cousins within a stone's throw of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Lizzie loves her aunt but is hated by her uncle. She makes friends with Geoff Gardiner, another orphan, and is teaching him to swim in the Scaldy when Clem Gilligan rescues the pair of them from drowning. Clem works on the canal boat, The Liverpool Rose, with Jake Pridmore and his wife, plying between the great cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Lizzie's situation at home starts to worsen and eventually she is forced to flee. Her first instinct is to make for the canal, but finding Clem is not so easy....

For 10 years Delia has had to fend for herself and her son, Jack, and as a young unmarried mother, life has never been easy. Every new coat and pair of shoes was bought with what little money she could scrape together as a singer on the stage. But when the theatre work dries up, Delia faces a dilemma: continue the search for employment with no knowing whether she'll find the stability and security her son needs or return to the place that should be home...where only spite and hatred await them.

London, 1854: 20-year-old Essie Chapman lives with her father in poverty-stricken Limehouse, working on the river as a boatman. Her life seems set before her, never to leave this part of London and forever at her father's beck and call. Then, one night, she must transport a mysterious man from a foreign ship to the banks of the Thames, a man who ends up renting a room in Essie's house, identifying himself only as 'Raven'.

Her strength is all she has left.... When Dorothy meets Robbie, she falls for him quickly, and it’s not long before the pair are engaged. But then an unexpected pregnancy puts everything at risk, and Dorothy is left alone - with Robbie nowhere to be seen. Heartbroken, Dorothy picks up the pieces of her life as a working girl in Battersea, helping to support her mother and father. But before long, things start to become difficult. Her father’s health is worsening, money is tight and, worst of all, Robbie hasn’t come back for her. 

Sisters Margaret and Annie lost their mother years ago; they long for her every day. Their frightfully protective father keeps the girls close, but he can't protect them forever.... When a scandal rocks the family, the girls are forced to leave their home. The girls flee to Birmingham's jewellery quarter to stay with the one person they can rely on - Uncle Goldsmith. Annie takes up work at a nearby factory, where she learns to forge cutlery, and Margaret is employed as a chain maker.

Living on the edge of the beautiful Norfolk Broads with her father, the only ripple in Tess Delamere's calm life is the disturbing dream about her dead mother which haunts her. She yearns to know more, but the arrival of a new stepmother heralds the end of Tess' hopes that her father might divulge the past. As she grows up, Tess slowly starts to put together the pieces herself. But the outbreak of war brings tragedy and upheaval, changing Tess' priorities....

After the sudden and brutal breakdown of her marriage, Jenny finds herself alone for the first time in her life when she leaves the comfortable farmhouse with her four-year-old daughter. Taking refuge in a seaside town in North Wales, Jenny finds a room in a boarding house. It's difficult at first, but as she gets to know her fellow residents, she gradually begins to see that life has much more to offer than she could ever have dreamed.

Ginny's drunken father, devastated by the death of her mother and three siblings, ends up imprisoned for murder. Charlie, Ginny's eight-year-old sickly brother, is taken to the workhouse. Ginny is forced to flee her job and the unwanted advances of a baker. Close to breaking point, her beauty leads her to become Lady's Maid to the difficult Miss Diana at Lamp Hill Hall. However, all Ginny wants is to find her brother.

Liverpool, 1940. When her childhood sweetheart, Johnny, is killed in action, Maxine Grey loses more than her husband - she loses her best friend. Desperate to make a difference in this awful war, Maxine takes a nursing job at London’s St Thomas’ hospital. She takes comfort in the attentions of a handsome surgeon, but Edwin Blake isn’t all he seems. And as the Blitz descends on the capital, Maxine faces more heartache. When she returns to Liverpool, she harbours a secret.

Warwickshire, 1910. Pious young Grace Kettle escapes the world of her unsavoury and bullying father to train to be a nun. But when she meets the dashing and devout Father Luke her world is turned upside down. Her faith is tested, and she is driven to make a scandalous and life-changing choice - one she may well spend the rest of her days seeking forgiveness for.

Liverpool, 1901. The Tempest family is all but destitute, barely able to put food on the table. When Florrie falls ill with pneumonia and Arthur is imprisoned after a drunken fight, their 13-year-old daughter, Lizzie, finds herself parentless, desperate and alone. Despite her young age, Lizzie has spirit and determination, and she knows that she must find work to keep herself off the streets. In a stroke of luck, she gets a job in the match factory, and foreman George Rutherford takes her under his wing.

Hattie finds herself relegated to the factory floor on her return from the war. Her workmates are unforgiving at Hattie's attempt to raise herself up, and she is soon ostracised. After journeying to Australia to marry her husband, Clara is betrayed and returns penniless, homeless and trying to raise a child alone. Lou's daughter and parents are killed by a bomb blast. By day she works at the factory; by night she roams the bomb sites, half mad with grief. These women forge a bond that will ultimately allow them to find hope.

It's 1939, and the Brogan family of London's East End are ready to show Hitler what for. But things don't seem so rosy when rationing, evacuation and air raids start to put this larger-than-life family to the test. When a mysterious young man arrives at the Brogans' local parish church, he provides just the dazzling distraction they need - and, for eldest daughter Mattie, the promise of more than she'd ever wished for. But as the pair fall deeper in love, they are drawn into secret dangers, rife on the very London streets they call home.