The Girl By The River — Sheila Jeffries

Moments after she is born, Tessa Barcussy is branded as 'trouble'. On the same day, her father Freddie encounters a Romany Gypsy who makes a chilling prediction about Tessa's destiny. Freddie finds it so disturbing that he writes it down and hides it in a sealed envelope - never to be opened, he hopes. Yet the gypsy's words haunt him as he bonds with his new baby daughter.

Hyper-sensitive and rebellious, Tessa grows up a misfit, difficult to handle and disruptive. Freddie and his wife Kate struggle to raise this challenging child and nurture her creative gifts. Tessa feels that her path to happiness is chequered, growing up in the shadow of her sister, golden-child Lucy, and hiding a dark secret from everyone?

Will the words of the Romany Gypsy come true? Or will they empower Tessa to finally become the person she was born to be?