Phoebe-Ann Parkinson was, according to her mum Lily and sister Emily, developing ideas above her station. In the Liverpool of 1919, still recovering from the effects of war, Emily was happy to go into service and be courted by the kind reliable Edwin. But Phoebe-Ann, working as lady’s maid to Miss Olivia Mercer, dreamed of a much grander future, in which she was more than a servant to her young mistress and a confidante to Olivia’s badly shell-shocked brother James. Then a tragic attack threatened to ruin Emily’s life, and Phoebe-Ann was driven from the Mercer household and into the arms of Jake Malone, a member of the notorious, drunken Malone family.

          Abandoned by the family,loathed and despised by the foul-mouthed Ma Malone, she found her dreams turning to nightmare. But as Emily began to recover, Phoebe-Ann was able to start forging a new life for herself and to look froward to leaving Liverpool and her past behind her.