Writing stories about people who have the same problems that we do, only 150 years ago.
MUST A MAN BE DEFINED BY HIS MISTAKES?
That's what Oliver Winslow is afraid of.
England, 1870. Four years after finishing the prison sentence that stole a decade of his life, Oliver finds himself an uncomfortable lodger in his childhood home.
Although he has the support of his siblings and the quiet Jewish barber he works for, he lives a life of quiet despondency, still battling against the kleptomania that landed him in prison in the first place. When his job brings him to a gathering hosted by a local aristocrat, Oliver already feels out of place. Even worse, he's unwittingly implicated in an act of theft which — for once — he did not commit.
As he frantically tries to keep his head above water and piece together how this happened, he finds company in Kittie Wilson, a scullery maid torn between her familial obligations and her burgeoning dreams of a happier life.
In this tale of desperation and desire, Oliver struggles to overcome the hardships his illness poses on his everyday life — and its impacts on his family, employer, and newfound love.