The Black Silk Purse

Sent to the workhouse as a child, all Ella Hathaway can remember is a voice whispering, 'Dearie, promise me you will never forget what you saw. Your Ma was killed deliberate . and someone oughter pay for it.' When young, wealthy spinster Letitia Fairchild witnesses Ella being ill-treated, she takes her in as a scullery maid. But as Ella grows up, she is determined to find the truth about her mother's tragic death and appeals to Letitia for help, revealing the contents of her only personal possession, a black silk purse. Intrigued, Letitia agrees to begin a quest to solve the mystery of Ella's past. But neither could have imagined the astonishing and dramatic consequences. From the miseries of life in a London workhouse, to the splendour of a beautiful mansion, will Ella find the love and security she longs for?

Born and educated in Stoke-on-Trent, Margaret Kaine now lives in Eastbourne. The Black Silk Purse is her second romantic historical novel set in the Edwardian era, following publication of Dangerous Decisions. Her debut novel, Ring of Clay, won the RNA New Writer's Award and the Society of Authors' Sagittarius Prize and was followed by a further six best-selling sagas set in the Potteries.