PEARL CROFT is born in the worst of circumstances to a notorious family in Sunderland’s filthy crime-ridden East End.

A violent, drunken father killed in fight; brothers sent to jail for neglecting her and her baby brothers and a mother on the game who has clients with paedophile tendencies.

Fleeing from home, Pearl is near death when she is rescued by Romany gipsies, but with the passage of time she is beset by fresh troubles.

Raw passion and power on every page.

Steve Craggs