1930, Hull, East Yorkshire. Alice Goddard is fleeing through a rain lashed street from her violent, bullying husband Ted and fearing for her life and that of her two-year-old daughter Daisy. Running to the police station for help, she becomes involved in a road accident. Seriously injured, she lies in a coma in hospital. When she recovers, Ted has disappeared and Daisy is missing...

Sylvia Broady was born in Hull and has lived in the area all her life, although she loves to travel the world. It wasn't until she started to frequent her local library after World War II that her relationship with literature truly began, and her memories of the war influence her writing as does her home town. She has had a varied career in childcare, the NHS and the EYC Library Services, but is now a full-time writer.