Fredericksburg is located at the falls of the Rappahannock River - the point where the flat, sandy, coastal plain meets the hilly, rocky piedmont to the west. This is where the river becomes unnavigable - rocky rapids and shallow waters make its channel impassable to vessels.
Ten-year-old Rebecca likes to help her family by earning some money, but a Massachusetts cotton mill is not the same as working at a jewelry counter in a shopping mall. In the 1830s, long before there were laws to protect workers and keep kids from being exploited, a mill was a dusty, dirty place where the very air could make you sick. When talk comes of paying the girls and women less money, Rebecca has to decide whether to stand with the others or keep doing her job to bring in money for her family.
The copper mines in Michigan were dangerous, and the men who worked there toiled for long hours and made very little money. Annie Clemenc, a miner's wife, marched against these conditions even when the mining company resorted to violence.
A boy climbs aboard a rickety boat and travels back in time one hundred years to the Industrial Revolution where he suffers at the hand of his bosses. Meanwhile, his half-brother, frantically looking for him in the 20th century, comes across his brother's name in the history books where he had testified to the brutal conditions under which he has been forced to live.
From the desperately poor Irish villages of the 19th century potato famine to the streets of London and Liverpool, from the misery of crossing the Atlantic in steerage to the mills of Lowell, Massachusetts, the lives of several young people and various villains intersect fatefully in this page-turning, cinematic drama.
The best thing about the library is that it is available not only to me, but to everyone. It does not discriminate. It makes itself available to those who want to use it.
