The World from Rough Stones

John Stevenson is just a navy foreman working on the Summit Tunnel of the Manchester & Leeds Railway when a near-fatal accident brings young Nora Telling into his life. Her nimbleness of mind and his power of command enable them to take over the working mill and rescue it from catastrophe.

Together with their friends, the Thorntonswho are troubled by a marriage mismatched in passionthey are willing to risk any dare, commit themselves to any act of cunning on their climb from rags to riches. It is a story of love, hate, lust, and deception as England's glorious Victorian age is dawning.