The prequel to the million-copy bestseller, A Woman of Substance, where, high on the Yorkshire moors, the story of Blackie O-Neill and Emma Harte begins-Orphaned and alone, 13-year-old Blackie O-Neill must leave County Kerry to find work and put food in his mouth. His only chance of survival lies with his mother-s brother, far away in Leeds.There, amid the noise and bustle, the mills and manufactories of the clothing industry that have made Leeds one of England-s most prosperous cities, Blackie-s spark of ambition becomes a flame. Working in his Uncle-s business, he nurtures a dream of throwing off the impotence of poverty, of building houses and perhaps even of becoming a gentleman.And then, high on the Yorkshire moors, in the mists of a winter morning, he meets a kitchen maid called Emma Harte. And as the Victorian world gives way to the freedom of the Edwardian age, so a young man and a servant girl seize a chance, against the odds, to build a better life--Heart-soaring and hopefuly
