Dark Satanic Mill

by Miles Craven

Cheshire 1813. A tale set against the turbulent backdrop of Luddite riots and the final years of the Napoleonic Wars. Robbie Enright is a teenage orphan indentured at a remote cotton-spinning mill called Providence, owned by the eminent Samuel Stead. In this highly-successful enterprise reliant on child labour all is not as it seems, however. Several of the female hands have disappeared, supposedly escaping from the mill’s harsh discipline. Robbie, suspecting a terrible secret, is forced to contend with the mill’s authorities, not least Titus Bredlow, the sadistic overlooker. Bright and courageous, Robbie has no resources and only one friend: Ned Wainwright, a notorious Luddite and a wanted man. Against the odds he is determined to expose the truth – not least because he’s fallen in love with the mill’s newest arrival – pretty Mary Pepper.

408 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2015

About the author

Miles Craven is my penname, an amalgam of the name I was born with (Michael Craven) and the name that replaced it when my mother remarried (Michael Miles). An exiled Yorkshireman living with my family in North Wales, I graduated in Medieval and Modern History at Birmingham University in 1978, where I also completed my PhD in 1982 and in the same year a postgraduate teaching certificate at Wolverhampton University. I have taught in further education colleges and universities for over thirty years, teaching more subjects than I care to remember but specialising in History, English Literature and, most recently, Creative Writing.

Reviews

[Garry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

It's a plodding read ..as in not a page turner but it's a damn good story with damn good characters..loads of old sayings and adages ..a real walk back thru time highly recommend it

[Mrs Janet P Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good storyline and characters. Well written and good details of both the characters and their surroundings. It gets to a point where you need to keep reading or worry about what happens. Well worth reading.