Take a journey across America with a poor Victorian flower girl in her epic journey to a better life, from the internationally bestselling author Lesley PearseAs voted by readers as their favourite Lesley Pearse novel___________One good deed takes her into another world . . . Sixteen-year-old Matilda is a poor Covent Garden flower girl until the day she saves the life of Tabitha, a minister's daughter.Welcomed into Tabitha's family, Matilda is offered the chance of a lifetime. She leaves behind London's slums and enters the darkest corners of New York.Traveling across the vast plains to the Wild West, she finds herself in San Francisco, a city in the grip of the gold rush. Streetwise and strong-willed, Matilda forges a new life for herself and Tabitha among pioneers like Captain James Russell - a man to whom she is deeply attracted. Yet a civil war will soon rip apart this new nation . . . Can Matilda and those she loves brave separation and carry on, never looking back?___________'With characters it is impossible not to care about . . . this is storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail'Heart-warming and evocative . . . a real delight to read' Sun'Lose yourself in this epic saga' Bella'Utterly riveting, brilliant' Closer'An emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry' Woman's Weekly