Annie Swinburn had killed a man. The killing was timely and well-deserved, for Francis Morton had been evil in every possible way. But Annie knew that however justified her crime, only the rope and gibbet awaited her if she remained in the slums of Hull. And so she ran - up river, along the wild and secretive paths of the great Humber - a new and unfamiliar territory which was to lead her into a new and unfamiliar life.
Her first refuge was with Toby Linton, well born, estranged from his father, and - with his brother Matt - earning a dangerous living as a smuggler, and as a pedlar roaming the remote countryside of the Wolds. It was this new existence which led her, once more, into allowing herself to love, in spite of the things that had gone before.
But even as a newer, richer world began to overtake her, she could never forget the shadow of the man she had killed, and the family she had been forced to abandon.
Extract from ANNIE:
Did other rivers, streams and creeks fall into these mighty waters,
cascading down hills and surging through valleys to swell the rushing
waters of the mighty Humber? Annie wrapped her shawls around her. A
wind was rising, cold and sharp, coming in from the sea. It disturbed
the water's dull surface, agitating it into frothy white crests and
she saw by the increasing undercurrent that the tide was on the turn.
The river was on a journey and she was compelled to follow it.