The Fen Tiger — Catherine Cookson

Deep in the wild fen country, Rosamund Morley lived a cloistered, poverty-stricken existence with her sister Jennifer and her alcoholic father. She was the prop and stay of the family â€" and it was she who ran for help the night her father set his bed alight after a drinking bout.

That night was to change the course of Rosamund's life â€" for, fleeing through the woods, she met Michael Bradshaw, the man she christened the ‘Fen Tiger'. When she knew more of Michael's past and the fate that had forced him to live in isolation, Rosamund's initial feelings of dislike slowly changed to compassion...and then to something deeper....