A Swansea Child

Description

February 1881 and Swansea is troubled and dangerous, full of dark secrets. Chana, heiress to a fortune, rescued from revolution overseas, was brought to the town as a child, for safety.  Now her father has arrived to reclaim her. But no one knows who Chana is anymore or where she might be.  And Swansea is a terrible place to be a child. Is Chana alive? Or has she been buried on the beach like so many others?  

Childhood is nothing more than poverty and squalor, bringing disease and death; childhood is nothing more than a daily fight for survival.  Can anyone ever  be rescued from this? Can anyone change their life and so find a new beginning? Can diamonds still be found amongst the ashes? 

The macabre murders of young boys brings a new terror to the town and in an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, when women are also  attacked brutally at night,  Inspector Rumsey Bucke tracks a heartless killer.   

And meanwhile an abandoned, lonely, child pushes a pram endlessly through the streets..  

The book explores the themes of identity, childhood and love, set against the vivid backdrop of a disorderly town, where hope is a fragile flower, clinging desperately to life in a hostile world.