Hope: Lesley Pearse

Her existence would be the ruin of her mother.

Baby Hope was the unfortunate proof of Lady Harvey's adultery.

Smuggled out of a privileged aristocratic household to a nearby village, her true identity is kept secret as she grows up in the arms of the poor, but loving, Renton family.

When the day comes for Hope to pay her way, what could be more natural than being taken into service by the Harveys?

However, when she sees something she should not, she is blackmailed into leaving her beloved Rentons forever . . .

Destitute and on the streets of an unfriendly city, Hope's courage and kindness sees her become a nurse destined for the horrific battlefields of the Crimea.

But will Hope ever come home and uncover the true story of her birth?