A girl called Hope - Grace Thompson

Married life hasn't been easy for Hope Murton - her domineering mother-in-law, Marjorie, has always tried to control her sons, and Hope's husband, Ralph, finds it difficult to stand up to her. Finally, though, Hope manages to persuade him to move out of his mother's home and into Badgers Brook with their small son, Davy. Almost immediately Ralph is seriously injured in a road accident, and is told he will be confined to a wheelchair for life. After a first, failed, attempt, Ralph commits suicide, and Hope is left destitute. Determined not to return to live under her mother-in-law's roof, she turns to friends, including local trader Peter Bevan, and gradually manages to build up a dressmaking business. Meanwhile, Marjorie's son Phillip returns to the area and, for reasons of his own, tries to have Hope evicted from her house. It is only through Peter's intervention that her security is assured, and she at last finds happiness in marriage to the man who gave her support when she most needed it.