AustLit

'Billy is the light of Polly's life - it's for her son's sake that she puts up with an unkind mother-in-law and life on an isolated farm. Then Billy is knocked down by a car, his father killed attempting to save his life and Polly, cast off by her husband's family, is left with a child who may never walk or talk again. Polly's own family, the Kershaws, provide all the support they can, but they are unable to outmanoeuvre the malicious Dr Browning-Baker, who is determined to have Billy taken away from the young mother who has dared to defy the doctor. This would deprive Billy of the exercises and stimulation that are his only hope. Forced to flee to the Fylde coast, Polly and Billy find shelter with another damaged family - an ex-Army captain whose First World War marriage was a terrible mistake, and his daughter, who has never recovered from the hostility of the mother she loves. But danger threatens the fragile happiness they build there.' - from author's website.