This Tarnished Light

Polly Bridger has always been able to see a kind of luminous glow in the people around her. She notices it in her mother and father, who give up nearly everything to keep her out of harm's way, and later in a young man named Albert Coward, whose kindness offers her comfort and affection.

Victorian London leaves few safe paths open to a poor girl. Polly is determined not to end up like the many young women who must make a living on the streets. When Albert is sent to prison for theft and her options dwindle to almost none, she parts with the last thing she owns, yet she holds stubbornly to the belief that he will return to her. The story asks whether the two can still be reunited, and whether a love dimmed by hardship can keep its brightness.