I loved this book - it caught me up and whisked me along at full speed till the end. This was also made into a TV series.

Back Cover Blurb:
Sep McGilby said Emily Kennedy has a glad face. And at 16, Emily had a lot to be glad about. She loved her job as a maid-of-all-work to the McGilby's, and the only cloud of her horizon was her anxiety about her delicate, younger sister Lucy.
But when the invalid Mrs McGilby died, and Sep was killed in an accident soon after, Emily and Lucy were forced to leave South Shields to look for work.
The household of Croft Dene house, where Lawrence Birch ruled as master, was a strange one, and as Emily became more deeply involved with the family's affairs, she grew rapidly from girl to woman, needing all her strength of will and character to get her through. And whatever happened, she clung grimly to a scrap of philosophy that had become her motto: 'Never say die!'. ( )