The Gallows Girl

In the village of Prestbury, Hampshire, the future of Green Gallows coaching house is threatened by the rumours of a new turnpike stretching from London to Portsmouth. The new road will take all the business away from the inn and bring ruin to Harriet and Isaac Curtis's plans to one day live like the gentry they're subservient to. All will not be lost if they can still succeed in landing a titled - and wealthy - husband for their eldest daughter, Lucy. They may treat their youngest daughter, Rachel, as little more than a servant but pretty Lucy is being groomed for better things. Rachel cannot help but envy her sister her pretty dresses and the easy admiration she wins from stable hands and gentlemen alike. But while Rachel skivvies in the mire of the stable yard, greeting the coaches in all weather, she little dreams that Lucy would give anything to trade places with her. For when their father's grand plans to expand his business crumble he does not hesitate in trading Lucy's virtue to pay his debts. But neither sister will submit to her fate without protest, even if it will be left to Rachel to pay the price for her sister's final act of defiance.