Black Country orphan
Murray, Annie2021
Books, Manuscripts
Find it!
The early 1900s: Cradley Heath, a town in the Black Country near Birmingham and centre of the world's chain-making trade. Lucy Butler, a young girl crippled by a cruel accident, lives with her two brothers and widowed mother, a chain-maker barely making ends meet. When tragedy strikes, the Butler family is separated and Lucy is taken in by Bertha Hipkiss, another impoverished chain maker, struggling to look after her own family. Lucy, while feeling the loss of her own family, relies on the company of Bertha's two sons, charming Clem and straight-laced John. Though clever at school, Lucy knows she must leave and earn her keep, working many hours in the backyard forge. The five women toiling side by side, inevitably have their own friendships and squabbles. But they're united in their hatred of loathsome middleman Seth Dawson, who treats the women with contempt, and keeps their pay punishingly low.
Main title:
Black Country orphan / Annie Murray.
Author:
Imprint:
London : Macmillan, 2021.London : Macmillan, 2021.
Collation:
383 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN:
9781529011791 (hbk)
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
2429672