Writing with wonderful warmth and a fine feeling of place, Rona Randall weaves a story of degradation and the supremacy of talent in this story of the contrasting lives of rich potters and their workers. It is the late 1920s and Sarah loves her work as an apprentice in the sheds at the Staffordshire pottery Frenshaws. She is able to escape her miserable home life where her hateful step-father Joe abuses her mother, though not completely because Joe is Frenshaws¿ chief thrower. When Sarah¿s talent is recognised by the master potter & owner, Daniel, she is sent to Design School where she meets wealthy Annabel and they become friends. But Sarah¿s life is far from settled. Her brutal step-father lies in wait for her one night and rapes her. She escapes to live with her grandmother where she learns secrets about her past and heritage and a life she had never imagined opens up for her.