A century or so ago on the outskirts of a village near Fellburn lived a man and woman and their six children To a visitor from the outside world they would rightly have suggested a close and loving family Yet across this happy facade lay a shadow, for the couple were not married To the minds of a rural Victorian community the couple's offspring were outcasts, a bunch of gillyvors - which in country parlance meant they were bastards Anna, the elder daughter, resolved to face the legacy of her birth and the challenges it must continue to bring her