The new warm-hearted saga of family secrets and lies from an author on the path to stealing Catherine Cookson's mantle Alison Grant is just five when her father is sent to prison for murder. Taunted at school for being a jailbird's daughter, then abandoned by her mother, she goes to live with her grandmother. She tells her only new friend that her mother is dead and her father is a ship's captain. It is the beginning of a new life of lies and deception, which continues after her grandmother's death. Alison begins to dream of owning a chain of cafes and becoming a lady. But her family's shaming secret will come back to haunt her once more.