Where there’s muck, there’s mettle…Dolly Tomkins has always known what it is to live hand to mouth. In the mean streets of a Salford struggling under the mantle of the Great Depression, the only one making a decent living is the talleyman.

Though Nifty Jack has a money bag where his heart should be, Dolly’s mam is in hock up to her ears and in dire need of assistance. But when Jack offers to wipe the slate clean, Dolly just can’t bring herself to trust him.

Instead, she takes him on at his own game and in the process endangers everything she holds most dear as a revelation about the past rocks the very foundations of her world.

This is an enchanting story of love and endurance perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries and Kitty Neale.

Previously published as Watch for the Talleyman.

Praise for The Castlefield Collector

‘A story which in some ways could be written about today as easily as the 1920s’ 5* Reader review

‘This is my first novel by Freda and it will definitely not be the last’ 5* Reader review

‘I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from start to finish’ 5* Reader review