In 1849, at the height of the Great Hunger in Ireland, three cousins, Ellen, Peg and Norrie have lost their families and homes. They are forced to enter the Workhouse from where they are chosen, under the notorious Earl Grey scheme, to be sent to Australia. The scheme, the brainchild of a callous British Government, aims to rid Ireland of over four thousand of its unwanted female orphans. The girls are forced to cross Ireland to Dublin and on to Liverpool. Two will reach Australia. What awaits them is unexpected and ultimately tragic.
For the third girl, destiny has something else in store. Her desire for revenge against the landlord’s agent, responsible for the loss of her home and the deaths of her family, is too great.
After committing a bloodthirsty murder, for which she is hunted by British soldiers, she decides to make a run for America. Can she throw off her former life to find salvation in the hostile, dangerous Manhattan of the 1850s?
The Maze Investigators, tracing what seems to be a straightforward family history, find themselves embroiled in a family dynasty – treacherous people who have a great deal to win, but too much to lose.