Evie was born in 1887 in Carlisle and brought up in a children's home by reluctant relatives, with her wild hair and unassuming ways, she seems a quiet, undemanding child.

She is born in Bergen, Norway and grows up in comfort and security in Scotland, the only child of doting parents.

[1] Christina Hardyment writes in The Independent and praises Margaret Forster as having "an extraordinary talent for handling an illuminating deeply sensitive issues of family life.

They find very different receptions - not just because of social changes but because of the characters and experiences of the "real" mothers they belatedly discover.

Forster brilliantly conveys the contrasting times, both in attitudes to women and the options on offer for girls who find themselves pregnant outside wedlock.