The Stone Picker's Christmas Promise

An unwanted child sold for profit, a criminal who cares nothing for those he hurts and a Christmas promise that seems impossible to keep.

Lily Pearse is sold by her vicious aunt to the unscrupulous Owen Shaw where she is forced to endure deadly work picking stones in the muddy waters of the Fen marshes.

Befriended by a captured street urchin, Tuck, Lily spends her days picking and her nights in opium dreams, too weak from starvation and addiction to run away. It is only Tuck that keeps her safe from harm and each Christmas makes the promise that one day they will be free.

As Lily and Tuck grow older they are entrusted with company business and under Lily’s care the company prospers. But all the while a plan is forming, and the pair must clandestinely undertake dangerous activities to free the children of addiction and find a way of escape.

As Christmas approaches they enact their plan, but Tuck does something Lily had not counted on, and she must face the truth about the man that her friend has become. Can Lily and Tuck find a way to put their past to rest and make a future together? Will Christmas finally bring the promise that sustained Lily all these years? For fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin and Tania Crosse