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The Mill Children
A beautifully written historical novel which has sold well nationwide in paperback. Readers are already enquiring about the promised sequel to this page turner.
"It was the hour of five on a winter's morning. The distant toll of a factory bell echoed across the valley striking wakefullness and dread wherever it was heard. For the army of child slaves, compelled to work amongst the ceaseless whirring of a million hissing wheels, another day had begun. Tiny footprints in the snow showed where some had hurried and others had fallen behind sobbing, aware that the lash of the whip awaited them...."
Recently orphaned, Jack and Beth flee east across the Pennines to escape the horrors of a Bradford mill in the 1830’s. Gripping, heart-rending and uplifting by turn, this fast-moving novel carries the reader through the subsequent twelve years as they struggle to survive and find fulfilment. Played out against a background of Yorkshire stately homes, chance encounters, forbidden loves, gypsy entanglements, asylums and even the Arctic North, their fortunes wax and wane until the very last page. Interwoven throughout are the inspirational efforts of early reformers such as Richard Oastler whose statue in Bradford, embracing two mill children, marks his achievements to this day.
Scarborough Evening News review of The Mill Children, 15 April 2009:
Winter 1830. A bedraggled army of beaten and hungry children stumbles to work in a Bradford wool mill. One child falls dead and lies forgotten in the snow. It’s a dramatic start to Scarborough author Suzanne Marshall’s tale of two cousins, Jack and Beth, who flee the mill to escape a miserable fate.
A chance encounter with the aristocratic Henry Cunningham offers a safe haven. But Henry is fighting his own demons.
A guilty liaison in a boat-house pitches Jack and Beth into fresh adventures and soon their path crosses that of Ramona, a beautiful and self-sufficient gypsy skilled in country lore. A born survivor, she knows how to interpret the warning chatter of birds and how to poach without getting caught. But a terrible secret makes her vulnerable....
With the writer weaving her plot strands like threads in a bolt of cloth, local colour continually drives the action. Seamer Horse Fair and Raincliffe Woods are the settings for life-changing events. Huge whaling ships in Scarborough harbour take the story into new and turbulent waters, the canvas billowing as they put to sea. The suffering of mill children re-enters the story via gossip overheard in a York inn. It concerns “Factory King” Richard Oastler and his campaign to improve their lives in the face of hefty political opposition – this is historical fact. Meanwhile, the Bradford mill Jack and Beth left behind still claims its victims and waits for more.
The Mill Children will please its intended readership. The author’s lyrical style suits her material admirably and gives it the ring of authenticity. It’s a fireside book, combining the harsh truths about mill brutality with the sweetening honey of romance.
"It was the hour of five on a winter's morning. The distant toll of a factory bell echoed across the valley striking wakefullness and dread wherever it was heard. For the army of child slaves, compelled to work amongst the ceaseless whirring of a million hissing wheels, another day had begun. Tiny footprints in the snow showed where some had hurried and others had fallen behind sobbing, aware that the lash of the whip awaited them...."
Recently orphaned, Jack and Beth flee east across the Pennines to escape the horrors of a Bradford mill in the 1830’s. Gripping, heart-rending and uplifting by turn, this fast-moving novel carries the reader through the subsequent twelve years as they struggle to survive and find fulfilment. Played out against a background of Yorkshire stately homes, chance encounters, forbidden loves, gypsy entanglements, asylums and even the Arctic North, their fortunes wax and wane until the very last page. Interwoven throughout are the inspirational efforts of early reformers such as Richard Oastler whose statue in Bradford, embracing two mill children, marks his achievements to this day.
Scarborough Evening News review of The Mill Children, 15 April 2009:
Winter 1830. A bedraggled army of beaten and hungry children stumbles to work in a Bradford wool mill. One child falls dead and lies forgotten in the snow. It’s a dramatic start to Scarborough author Suzanne Marshall’s tale of two cousins, Jack and Beth, who flee the mill to escape a miserable fate.
A chance encounter with the aristocratic Henry Cunningham offers a safe haven. But Henry is fighting his own demons.
A guilty liaison in a boat-house pitches Jack and Beth into fresh adventures and soon their path crosses that of Ramona, a beautiful and self-sufficient gypsy skilled in country lore. A born survivor, she knows how to interpret the warning chatter of birds and how to poach without getting caught. But a terrible secret makes her vulnerable....
With the writer weaving her plot strands like threads in a bolt of cloth, local colour continually drives the action. Seamer Horse Fair and Raincliffe Woods are the settings for life-changing events. Huge whaling ships in Scarborough harbour take the story into new and turbulent waters, the canvas billowing as they put to sea. The suffering of mill children re-enters the story via gossip overheard in a York inn. It concerns “Factory King” Richard Oastler and his campaign to improve their lives in the face of hefty political opposition – this is historical fact. Meanwhile, the Bradford mill Jack and Beth left behind still claims its victims and waits for more.
The Mill Children will please its intended readership. The author’s lyrical style suits her material admirably and gives it the ring of authenticity. It’s a fireside book, combining the harsh truths about mill brutality with the sweetening honey of romance.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
363 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 17, 2008
20 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne V. Marshall
93 booksSuzanne Marshall is a children's book author who writes to inspire, engage and empower kids. With her personalized book business (Live Well Media), she has made it her mission to spread love and inspiration to children around the world. An honors graduate of Smith College, Suzanne is passionate about promoting positive self-esteem in kids (and adults, too!) through humor and storytelling.
Previously, Suzanne has been a produced playwright and prize-winning videographer. Critics have called her writing "intelligent" and "very powerful" with "natural dialogue, hefty emotions, and a satisfying sense of justice," and one even remarked that her story was like "a really good rhubarb pie - a certain tangy bite built into a very sweet crust." This last review made Suzanne a bit hungry!
Previously, Suzanne has been a produced playwright and prize-winning videographer. Critics have called her writing "intelligent" and "very powerful" with "natural dialogue, hefty emotions, and a satisfying sense of justice," and one even remarked that her story was like "a really good rhubarb pie - a certain tangy bite built into a very sweet crust." This last review made Suzanne a bit hungry!
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 24, 2025
Loved this book.
December 29, 2020
Lovely book!
This book is insight into how our children suffered and must never treat kids this way ever again? Lovely book so sad ,hopeful and joyous.
This book is insight into how our children suffered and must never treat kids this way ever again? Lovely book so sad ,hopeful and joyous.
May 21, 2014
My emotions were everywhere in this story. I could not believe the cruelty handed out day after day to the children who were treated like slaves when working in the mills, the depravity and neglect was heart stopping. The young girls had no one to protect them from the disgusting lascivious men in the mills who took their innocence and then threw them onto a filthy sack. Using small children to go under the machines to collect cotton, sometimes accidents happened. One day the brothers and sister meet up with the person who was going to try and remedy the child labour situation. Suzaanne Marshall makes this an engrossing story.
January 30, 2017
Brilliant
Storyline was brilliant and the characters came to life before me as I read. To be honest it was one of those books that I couldn't put down. As a Bradfordian I park my car in the Oastler Centre every day going to work and I see his statue. A constant reminder to this great man. This book brings to mind images of that era. Sad but true.
Storyline was brilliant and the characters came to life before me as I read. To be honest it was one of those books that I couldn't put down. As a Bradfordian I park my car in the Oastler Centre every day going to work and I see his statue. A constant reminder to this great man. This book brings to mind images of that era. Sad but true.
June 16, 2015
Good read
I truely enjoyed this book. It was a page turner which brought out different emotions. Not a dull moment. Yes i would recommend this book to anyone who believes in love, compassion and the caring others.
I truely enjoyed this book. It was a page turner which brought out different emotions. Not a dull moment. Yes i would recommend this book to anyone who believes in love, compassion and the caring others.
June 14, 2012
this book is about boy and girl cousins that start out as children who, after being orphaned are forced to work in the textile mills. It also touches on the reform of child labor but only slightly.
March 12, 2013
i felt this dragged on and on was glad to finish
June 27, 2013
It wasn't half bad. It read like a romance. I usually don't do romances so I must have gotten this one by mistake. But I finished it! :)
August 17, 2013
really good in parts,but boring in others
January 24, 2015
Good read
I could not put this book down I only wish that there was a mill children 2, this book ticks all the boxes for me. Give it a go!!!
I could not put this book down I only wish that there was a mill children 2, this book ticks all the boxes for me. Give it a go!!!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews