Gripping...satisfyingly complex...intricately plotted...a persuasive picture of the hidden life of a Victorian town (Welsh Country Magazine)
The third book in the Rumsey Bucke series set in Swansea of the early nineteenth century.
It is February 1881, just a few short months since the collapsing mine brought an end to the horror of the church of Our Lady of Mumbles.
But Swansea is still a troubled and dangerous place, full of dark secrets.
Chana, heiress to a fortune, rescued from revolution overseas, was brought to the town as a child, for safety. Now her father has arrived to reclaim her. But no one knows who Chana is anymore or where she might be. And Swansea is a terrible place to be a child.
Is Chana alive? Or has she been buried on the beach like so many others?
The life of a child contains nothing more than poverty and squalor, bringing disease and death; childhood is nothing more than a daily fight for survival. Can anyone ever be rescued from this? Can anyone change their life and so find a new beginning? Can diamonds still be found amongst the ashes?
The macabre murders of young boys brings a new terror to the town and in an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, when women are also attacked brutally at night, Inspector Rumsey Bucke tracks a heartless killer.
And meanwhile an abandoned, lonely, child pushes a pram endlessly through the streets..
The book explores the themes of identity, childhood and love, set against the vivid backdrop of a disorderly town, where hope is a fragile flower, clinging desperately to life in a hostile world.
