Flowers from Ashes - by M Rae (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New Year's Day, 1900. Fourteen-year-old Lizzie Banfield's life shatters when she is orphaned and torn from the siblings she promised to protect. Deemed "ruined" by her family's poverty, she is banished by her wealthy, estranged Great Aunt to Milbourne Manor, a grim reformatory in the windswept north. There, Lizzie finds herself trapped under the tyranny of the cruel Matilda Smith, who is determined to break her spirit through grueling labor and isolation. Pushed to the brink, she discovers salvation in a fierce friendship with fellow outcast Nellie and the unexpected kindness of the matron's sister, Clara. Flowers From Ashes explores the darkness of Victorian poverty and the light found in the unbreakable bonds of found family as one girl fights to reclaim her future.