'I aint always going to be poor I made me mind up to that' Dismissed from her position as housemaid under a cloud of misunderstanding Tilly True is forced to return home But Tilly is determined to make something of her life & rather than admit the truth to her poverty-stricken family she sets out once more in search of employment Her journey takes her to the London law courts a grim parsonage in one of the most notorious parts of the East End & a house of ill-repute But when she falls for the dangerous charms of Barnaby Palgrave Tilly soon finds that her troubles have only just begun