Sent to the workhouse as a child, all Ella Hathaway can remember is a voice whispering, 'Dearie, promise me you will never forget what you saw. Your Ma was killed deliberate . and someone oughter pay for it.'

When young, wealthy spinster Letitia Fairchild witnesses Ella being ill-treated, she takes her in as a scullery maid. But as Ella grows up, she is determined to find the truth about her mother's tragic death and appeals to Letitia for help, revealing the contents of her only personal possession, a black silk purse. Intrigued, Letitia agrees to begin a quest to solve the mystery of Ella's past. But neither could have imagined the astonishing and dramatic consequences.

From the miseries of life in a London workhouse, to the splendour of a beautiful mansion, will Ella find the love and security she longs for?