The Iron Way

by Gillian Cross

The coming of the railway is the most spectacular and exciting thing Jem has ever seen. But not everyone is so enthusiastic. People don't like change, and they certainly don't like the rough gangs of navvies hanging around. But for Jem and his sister, Kate, there's nothing they can do - they're caught up in the middle of the hatred and uneasiness that is surrounding the village. Can they dissolve the tension before it erupts into violence?

Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

About the author

Gillian Cross was born Gillian Arnold in 1945. She was educated at North London Collegiate School, Somerville College, Oxford and the University of Sussex. Although now a full-time writer who often travels and gives talks in connection with her work, she has had a number of informal jobs including being an assistant to a Member of Parliament. For eight years she also sat on the committee which advises ministers about public libraries.

She is married to Martin Cross and they have four grown-up children, two sons and two daughters.

Reviews

[Mark Stangroome · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written for an adolescent audience and should be judged as such.

The premise of this book is Us v Them, the age-old human dilemma. Us are a little village in southern Sussex and Them are navvies building a railway close enough to the village for contact between the two groups set in the mid-to-late 1800's.

There are three main characters, two of which are from the village, Jem and Katie. These two have been left in severe financial difficulty after their father was deported for poaching and their mother died giving birth to a daughter who is now being brought up by Katie.

Jem is 12 and Katie 18, Jem gets a little work as a farm labourer and Katie as a seamstress but money is a big issue. Eventually due to this they take in a lodger, Kilkenny Con O'flynn, a navvie who shares Jem's bed.

The story then becomes the how the village ostracizes Jem and Katie for the 'crime' of allowing a navvie into the village and how the anger in the village builds stoked by the local blacksmith.

This is a short book but has enough angst to make it interesting.

[William · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was alright. I wasn't really a big fan of it myself. It is about a boy of quite a young age who lives with his older sister and his baby sister. They are extremely poor an have no parents to look after them. The railway is arriving near them and the boy (Jem) is extremely excited about it. On the other hand, his sister is not so keen. A man who is involved in building the railway asks them a place to stay. Jem and his sister think of it as a way to make an easy profit. However, they do not foresee the effect it will have on their neighbours and the other villagers. They become looked on as outsiders by the village people and a rivalry between the railway men and the village men starts. This involves fights and plots against each other. This issue leaves Jem in a very awkward position, choosing between the people he has known all his life and the railway man whom he has grown to become quite fond of.

[Lavinia · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's midway through the English Industrial Revolution and the railway is being built. Motherless Jem Penfold has never seen anything so exciting. But the other village folk don't like the change. And they especially don't like the grubby, Catholic, noisy Irish navvies that are laying down the tracks.

One day, a jolly navvy knocks at Jem and his sister Kate's door. His name is Conor O'Flynn, and he is looking for lodging at the Penfolds' cottage. Kate immediately declines—the villagers would hate them forever—but soon the lack of money overwhelms her, and she changes her mind. Tension leads to brutality, and brutality leads to tragedy...

I thought this book was quite good. Most of it was written well, and the plot was ok. It was sad at the end, though!