The wonderful new novel from this much-loved author.
    
1860: Life is hard for Harriet. She is trying to care for her seriously ill mother, and has just lost her job at the hostelry. The last thing she expects after her mother dies is a marriage proposal, but she accepts as the only alternative for her would be the workhouse. And so begins her new life with Noah Tukes.

But this path she chooses doesn't turn out to be a happy one for Harriet. She finds herself at the heart of a dysfunctional family, and a particularly difficult relationship with her unkind mother-in-law. The only person in the household who appears to be normal is Noah's older brother, Fletcher.

Born and raised in Hull, Harriet has been a townswoman all her life and is unacquainted with the country and the farming lifestyle she has married into. She is trying her best to adjust when she discovers that the role Noah has in mind for her is that she produce sons so that he has one-upmanship over his brother. In fact unbeknownst to Harriet, the reason Noah asked her to marry him was because of a bet he made with his brother.

In the middle of this warring family -- full of hatred and anger which none of them seem to truly understand -- Harriet finds comfort and companionship in Fletcher. But what is there to do, when the law and the Bible say that a man can't marry his brother's wife...?