Death will not part them, nor will it silence them. It is 1880 and women are meant to be seen and not heard. When a damaged daughter is born of a vicious marital assault, Pauline Kite and her child are condemned to a life of sequestration and silence in rural Oxfordshire until Elinor Budden, a young nurse herself in need of healing, urges resilience and an audacious plan to bring about justice. When an unforeseen catastrophe strikes and they are caught up in one of the worst rail disasters in Victorian history, the rare opportunity for reinvention promises a life lived on its own terms; with autonomy emerges a voice that will not be silenced, and the undreamed-of prospect of recognition for all women condemned to obscurity.