Book description
When artist Fergus Vincent forsakes the slums of Lewin's Mead in
Bristol he leaves behind him Becky, the street urchin whom he loved
and married. As he sets sail on a warship bound for mutiny-torn India,
Becky is left with the secret knowledge that she is carrying their
child... But Becky has learned how to survive and she does not face
the birth of her daughter, Lucy, alone. When a deadly cholera epidemic
sweeps through Lewin's Mead and Becky is struck down she is cared for
by Simon McAllister, a blind musician, and Lucy is taken to safety in
Clifton by Fanny Tennant, the Ragged School teacher.
Despite the dangers and squalor of her surroundings, once Becky has
recovered she is determined to bring up her daughter in the slums, the
only home she has ever known, never giving up the hope that one day
Fergus will come back to find them.
E. V. Thompson was born in London and spent nine years in the Navy
before joining the Bristol police. He moved to Hong Kong, then Rhodesia
and had over 200 stories published before returning to England to become
a full-time award-winning writer.
