The Mills Down Below

by Mabel Esther Allan

A fourteen-year-old girl, living in England just before World War I, rebels against the restrictions of her Victorian father, with the help of her feminist cousin Amy and an unexpected friend

Genres: Historical Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

A prolific British children's author, who also wrote under the pen-names Jean Estoril, Priscilla Hagon, Anne Pilgrim, and Kathleen M. Pearcey, Mabel Esther Allan is particularly known for her school and ballet stories.

Born in 1915 at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula, Allan knew from an early age that she wanted to be an author, and published her first short stories in the 1930s. Her writing career was interrupted by World War II, during which time she served in the Women's Land Army and taught school in Liverpool, but the 1948 publication of The Glen Castle Mystery saw it begin to take off in earnest. Influenced by Scottish educator A.S. Neill, Allan held progressive views about education, views that often found their way into her books, particularly her school stories. She was interested in folk dance and ballet - another common subject in her work - and was a frequent traveler. She died in 1998.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this!! Oh, that Girls Gone By would re-publish it! Thank goodness for inter-library loan! This is very much a kind of North and South/National Provincial for young adults (and for adults who love vintage YA!). The protagonist is Elinor Rillsden. She turns 14 in the course of the story, in the hot summer of 1914. Her upper-class family lives in a stately and looming manor up on the moor above the mill-town of Stoneborough, Lancashire, where Elinor’s father, Sir Edward, manages the mills, owns lots of property, is a Justice of the peace, etc. When the story begins, Elinor is a meek schoolgirl who is kept under her father’s strict thumb and her governess’s very restricted ideas of the education girls need.

But change is afoot that summer, both for Elinor and for the wider world in the march towards war. Elinor has been isolated through her childhood but she happens to meet a boy named Tom about her own age up on the moor. He gives her a new view of both herself and the town that Elinor has lived near her whole life but barely knows. Tom’s sister goes to the local high school so she can be a teacher. His aunt is advocating for rights for the women who work in the mill. Tom loves to learn and encourages Nell to do her own reading. At the same time, Nell’s 20-year-old cousin Amy joins the family and shares her radical ideas about women’s rights with Elinor. The summer comes to an end with some even more radical changes that are so satisfying to read about.

This is a real coming of age story, though Nell herself is still quite young. Her transformation is handled wonderfully and there are times when I ached with her as she rails against her father-inflicted prison walls and then I cheered with her when she stands up for herself and her friends. The book really shows how much the late Edwardian world was shaking on its foundation. I would love a sequel but it’s pretty easy to guess how that might play out. Still, I’d love to know how Elinor fared in her next schooling chapter and how the war affected her family and friends. I thought her elder brother—spoiled and entitled—was quite an interesting character. I have hope for him at the end with the changes that occur and are on the horizon.

I love a British story where the high and middle/low classes are forced into proximity. Like with N&S and National Provincial, it takes time for each to see the good in the other, but when it happens, it’s glorious. This was unintentionally a perfect story to finish on MLK Jr Day. It doesn’t relate to race but the class and gender elements explored in the story have some resonance. And I love to read a story where justice is carried out. It satisfies our deep human longing for things to be made right. If that isn’t perfect for today, I don’t know what is.

[Jennifer Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my childhood favorites. I have always loved historical books that take you back in time. This book takes you on an incredible journey through one young ladies fight to achieve more independence and her adventures along the way.