'London, 1825: Eglantine has always had an eye for the shine. Born the same day as the young princess destined to be queen, Eglantine has an altogether different path ahead of her, strewn with the glittering waste of her father's ambitions. Her mysteriously prosperous father, Mr Amberline Stark, is a man of great expectations. He coaxes her to follow in his footsteps, making picking pockets a delightful parlour game which they play in their fine house by the Thames. Eglantine's life before her arrival at the house remains a mystery, her memories wrapped up in a small doll she keeps close to her, and with it the fragmentary recollections of her mother.
'It is only when Amberline is caught and transported as a thief to the penal colony of Australia, that Eglantine has to grow up and fend for herself using her only skill. Reluctantly, the thief's daughter becomes a thief, until a chance meeting gives her a window on a new way of being, and the opportunity to strike out into a new and untarnished world. But will the weight of her father's choices make her a prisoner in the house at the side of the Thames?
'Birth and death, love and sadness, love knots and cut ties, quicksilver and shine, old worlds and new beginnings, Sandra Leigh Price weaves another gritty and beguiling story that will enchant and delight readers.' (Publication summary)
Dedication:
To Little Jackie Winter
&
to my Noble & True
Both
all that's bright in the world.
Epigraph:
"Give the child into my hands, and I will do my best to bring you off. If you are saved, your child will be saved too; if you are lost, your child is still saved."
"It don't signify to you with your brilliant lookout, but as to myself, my guiding-star always is, "Get hold of portable property'." – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.
'The author of The Bird’s Child returns with the story of a Romany girl forced to live by her wits when her father is transported to Australia.'
'The author of The Bird’s Child returns with the story of a Romany girl forced to live by her wits when her father is transported to Australia.'
