Good. In the mid-1850s life for an orphan was grim, as Kirsten MacGregor discovered when her parents died suddenly on a journey to Northumberland, leaving her penniless and alone in the hands of a cruel baby farmer. At 14 she is sold to a vicious travelling Tinker who rapes her. God is merciful and frees her from his captive and you have to buy ut to find out what happens from then on. 316 pp.