The Empty Hearth

The Pratchett family have to contend with coal-man Alfie Pratchett’s obsessive jealousy. A bully, his two teenage children, John and Millie, have learned to dodge him and his moods. The main concern of ugly duckling Millie – who looks nothing like her handsome brother John – is to protect their mum, Eileen. When crisis strikes the Pratchetts’ home, Alfie is forced to watch his whole world gradually collapse around him. Their old life has gone forever, and a new one has begun – one in which rape, debt, alcoholism and insanity play their parts. And redemption is a long time coming.