After the sorrows of war, can Christmas wishes come true? Manchester, 1922: Nancy Pike is out of her depth at Miss Hesketh's school for surplus girls, blundering through her lessons and her job placements. Her only joy is getting to know the children at St Anthony's orphanage. And working for Mr Zachary Milner twice a week. Alone in the world since the death of his brother, Nancy's presence has brought a little sunshine back into Zachary's life. But when she makes a terrible mistake that puts his livelihood in jeopardy, he has no choice but to let her go. As she battles the prejudices around her, and her own fear, Nancy is determined to bring some Christmas cheer to the orphanage - and maybe even to Zachary Milner... The third in a quartet of sagas set during the early 1920s, following three Surplus Girls - those women whose dreams of marriage perished in the Great War, after the deaths of millions of young men - and the new lives they forged for themselves.