This book had me hooked from the first sentence: a real page turner. I'd previously read about foundlings in Britain in the eighteenth century and the work of the Coram foundling hospital and was eager to get going with this novel. It did not disappoint. To be a single parent in this era was an impossible task, hence the many babies that were left in ditches to die. Only a few we're lucky enough to be placed in care. Our protagonist is lucky enough to secure a place for her day old infant at the foundling hospital, but she has no intention to leave her there forever and move on with her life. She grafts hard for a pittance and saves until she has £2. Six years later she returns to collect her daughter and pay the money for her release. The sum, not nearly enough, was payment towards her daughter's upkeep whilst in the home. Imagine her shock and disbelief when she finds her daughter has already been claimed, just one day after she was left. The story continues.....