The Travelling Man — Marie Joseph

Set in Lancashire in 1901. Annie Clancy's father hates her - but why? She slaves to keep house for him and her five younger brothers, keeping the family going on a few shillings a week, unloved, uncherished frequently knocked senseless. Then Laurie Yates, the travelling man, joins their household. When the exotic stranger walked into the loveless Clancy household, he brought a gift to innocent seventeen-year-old Annie that neither her five brothers, nor her brutal father, had ever given her... tenderness. He can read palms and traces Annie's most secret dreams. But he does not stay to see her dreams turn into nightmares. Like many before her, Annie pays the price for its sweetness. Seduced and made pregnant, she is forced to be independent when ostracized by her family. An outcast from her home and adrift in a harsh world, it would take a long time for Annie to trust a man again....