Cradle of Thorns by Josephine Cox

A young woman’s courage survives rejection and hardship

Good Condition - Covers show rubbing, spine creasing and edge and corner wear. Page edges are heavily browned with scattered spotting. Small handwritten marks on an opening page. Pages remain readable.

Nell Reece has grown up without knowing her mother, under the authority of a spiteful aunt and beside a father weighed down by guilt. Her independent spirit has survived, but pregnancy leaves her alone and forces her to abandon the only home she knows. Travelling through the Bedfordshire countryside of 1890 with little more than a horse and cart, Nell must find a way to protect herself and her unborn child. Her encounter with Kit, a ten-year-old orphan accustomed to the streets, creates an unexpected bond between two people in need of loyalty and shelter. Josephine Cox follows their uncertain journey in a family saga of hardship, compassion and concealed histories, as the possibility of a new future remains shadowed by an unavoidable reckoning.