1919. When young Tilly Moran falls out with her elder sister, Alice, she decides it is time to fly the nest and moves from the family home in Chester across the Mersey to Liverpool. Always more determined and spirited than her staid sibling, Tilly is undaunted by the prospect of living alone. By a stroke of luck, Tilly strikes up a friendship with Wendy Wright, whose mother has a room to rent. Though the lodgings are not expensive, Tilly can scarcely support herself on the income from her fledgling writing career and so she takes on two part-time jobs in the hope that they will not only supply her with some much-needed money, but also inspiration for her novel.Her undercover work on behalf of Grant Simpson's detective agency and the Seamans' Orphanage brings her into contact with the criminal elements of Liverpool society and desperate families trying to cope with the loss of their menfolk in the Great War. But as she throws herself into her role of detective, Tilly uncovers rather more than she bargained for. There seems to be little time for romance in such a climate, but soon Tilly finds she has attracted the attention of not one but two admirers: her employer Grant, and the charming and wealthy Lenny Parker. Though she is flattered, Tilly can never quite forget Don, the American photo journalist she met the previous year. And it is only when her life is put in danger that she discovers where her heart truly lies. This is a beautifully eloquent and heartfelt tale of a young woman's search for independence and love in post-war Liverpool.