Historical Romance

Gwendoline Delacroix flees Paris in a desperate attempt to escape the memories that haunt her in her French countryside chateau. Widowed by WWII and desperately missing her husband, Jean, her loyal and quirky staff do their best to keep her afloat. At the Hotel de la Belle Paix - the hotel run by her brother and sister-in-law in the Latin Quarter in Paris, she discovers love for animals is her best medicine.

After Elizabeth's family is taken by disease, she is taken in by Calvin and Mary, working long hours in their bakery. Life is good until Mary dies, leaving Elizabeth alone with Calvin where beatings become part of Elizabeth's daily life.As she suffers misery day after day, she dreams of running away but knows she will be brought back with even more severe punishments. As her despair deepens, she meets Simon, and her life looks a little brighter. But when Elizabeth tells Simon about the horrible life she is leading, Simon vanishes. A distraught Elizabeth knows she must run. A life on the streets is surely better than a battered life. As she finds work as a scullery maid, Simon unexpectedly comes back into Elizabeth's life, letting her know that he has never forgotten her. But tragedy soon strikes, turning Elizabeth's life upside down, sending her back to the cold streets of London.Can Elizabeth overcome the recent tragedies of her life? Will she ever see Simon again?

London, 1879. When Ella's family is forced to live on the streets of London's East End, tragedy strikes, forcing Ella and her sister, Mary, into an orphanage where they endure long hours of hard work. When Ella is apprenticed to a cobbler, she's forcibly separated from her sister.

The cobbler is a cruel man, using beatings to keep the workers in line. Ella's saving grace is Seth, who becomes her only friend. When Seth divulges a shocking secret, Ella realizes her life is doomed to this same miserable existence.

As the years pass, Ella desperately tries to find Mary, with no success. And when Seth disappears suddenly, Ella loses all hope. Can she escape the cruel cobbler before it's too late? Will she ever see Mary again? What happened to Seth?