The captivating new novel from Diney Costeloe, bestselling author of The Throwaway Children and The Girl With No Name.

London, 1912. It is only two years until the First World War and the conflict which will change the role of women forever. But for now, young Mabel Oakley is caught between her own dreams of becoming a teacher and what is conventionally expected of a girl from her class and background.

At first things look bright: Mabel's own teacher advises that she should definitely go to secondary school, instead of leaving at fourteen to get a job. Her parents are doubtful to start with, but increasingly sympathetic. Her father pulls in a good wage as a solicitor's clerk.

But then a family tragedy strikes, and it looks as though Mabel will have no choice but to give up on her dreams and go into the dreaded domestic service as a lady's maid. If only, she thinks, if only there were some way out.