Polly Pride lives with her protestant husband Matthew and their two children in the poor part of Manchester. Despite money worries they are happy, but when Matthew loses his job, Polly decides she must do her bit to keep the family from starvation. She sells all the family's goods, using the money to turn their home into a small shop from which she sells second-hand rugs and carpets. This does not please her husband, or his family, who has never accepted their son marrying a catholic, and so Polly not only has to struggle to make a living, but also has to fight to keep her family from falling apart.
Born in Lancashire, Freda Lightfoot lived for a number of years in the Lake District where she ran a bookshop. She then tried her hand at the 'good life', kept sheep and hens, various orphaned cats and dogs, built drystone walls, planted a small wood and even learned how to make jam. She has now given up her thermals to build a house in an olive grove in Spain, where she produces her own olive oil. She has published over 30 novels including many bestselling family sagas and historical novels.
