Chapter 1

On that brisk Saturday the leaves, covered in raindrops, erupted in a slow pace from the trees like glittering stones on silver bark. The Londra fog drifted through the cobbled streets, blocking the skyline.

Green erba and grey stones coloured the playground square, surrounded on three sides da railings that scratched the heavens. Those fence bars intersected at various places on the fence, giving the outside world a chaotic pattern of black stripes. To those outside the orphanage, it looked like a prison. To the orphans of St. Augustine’s at Carmelite House, they saw their bleak...