Description

Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize

1896. Tirzah, Sophia and Polly are best friends who’ve left boarding school and gone back to very different lives. Polly is teaching in an orphanage. Sophia is looking for a rich husband at the London Season. And Tirzah is stuck acting as an unpaid companion to her grandmother. In a series of letters, they share their hopes, their frustrations, their dramas … and their romances. Can these three very different young women find happiness?

‘An addictive, romantic epistolary novel’ Guardian
‘This immersive, uplifting book is an absolute delight’ Irish Times
‘Thrilling and cleverly constructed’ Daily Mail
‘A gorgeous, immersive book’ Observer
‘An unputdownable friendship story’ Hilary McKay

Publisher Review

"An addictive, romantic epistolary novel" * Guardian * "I loved this book. An unputdownable friendship story told in letters so vivid and immersive that I felt like joining in with the correspondence" -- Hilary McKay "Building on her previous historical fiction exploring the restrictions on women in society, the award-winning, always-excellent Sally Nicholls moves to the late Victorian era... This immersive, uplifting book is an absolute delight" * Irish Times * "With great affection and sympathy, these winning heroines forge their own paths in this highly readable, tautly paced work" -- starred review * Publishers Weekly * "The novel is heart-warming, intelligent and exciting, and thoroughly recommended for girls (and boys) hovering on the cusp of adolescence. I loved it" -- Philip Womack * Literary Review *