. . . "Emma's dying father, a circus performer, sends her to live with an unknown English grandmother in Victorian Durham and to a life of misery. With her she takes the whips and knives used by her father in his circus act, and these play a significant role in shaping Emma's destiny." . . . . . . . "Domestic fiction"@en . . . "Fiction"@en . . . . "The whip"@en . "The whip" . . . . . . . . . . . . "Bildungsromans"@en . "Whip, by Catherine Cookson" . . . . . . "England" . .