Truth, love and lies

Florence Swan's plan is to escape from Benford Mill School for young women before she is forced to work in their cotton mill. Naive, ambitious and foolhardy, she ventures out on her own, her path crossing that of Mr Luke Stainbridge - a man accused of being mad. He has returned home from imprisonment in France to discover that his home has been claimed by an impostor. Together they find the truth, disproving clever lies, and discover life anew.