BOOK ONE IN THE CUMBRIAN TRILOGY'An intensely moving, deeply worked book'Sunday Telegraph'Extraordinary'The Times'A magnificently strong and sinewy novel' Sunday MirrorIn rural Cumbria at the turn of the nineteenth century, John Tallentire and his wife, Emily, struggle to make ends meet. First as a farm labourer, then a coal miner, John dreams of breaking free from his humiliating status as a 'hired man'. But in a rapidly changing world, the couple find themselves caught between the demands of daily survival and striving for a better life.