Black Country Orphan

<p><b><i>Black Country Orphan</i> is a moving story of the courage and strength of women, by the <i>Sunday Times</i> bestselling author Annie Murray.</b><br><br>The early 1900s: Cradley Heath, a town in the Black Country near Birmingham and centre of the world’s chain-making trade. <br><br> Lucy Butler, a young girl crippled by a cruel accident, lives with her two brothers and widowed mother, a chain-maker barely making ends meet. When tragedy strikes, the Butler family is separated and Lucy is taken in by Bertha Hipkiss, another impoverished chain maker, struggling to look after her own family.<br><br>Lucy, while feeling the loss of her own family, relies on the company of Bertha’s two sons, charming Clem and straight-laced John. Though clever at school, Lucy knows she must leave and earn her keep, working many hours in the backyard forge. The five women toiling side by side, inevitably have thei