Nicola's Virtue

<p>In 1867 Nicola Douglas attends a London lecture given by Miss Maria Rye the founder of the Female Middle Class Emigration Society which inspires her to change her life.</p><p>With no family but a good education she boards a ship to Australia with high hopes of a fresh start in a new country as a governess. But Sydney is full of young women with similar hopes and equally poor prospects. When Nicola is at her lowest ebb a benefactor appears Mr Belfroy whose past has made him sympathetic to women struggling to survive. She also meets Frances West an activist from a privileged background and her attractive but distant brother Nathaniel.</p><p>However hard she tries to resist Nicola's attraction to Nathaniel West grows. Her achievements at the Governess Home are vital to her. Can she have both? </p>