This unassuming little book is actually a fascinating read! It is a social history of a working class girl in the middle of the 19th century. Written as part autobiography/part biography, it is an unvarnished tale of the realities of growing up/getting married/having children and all the various obstacles that had to be surmounted from lack of education to rioting in the mills of North Yorkshire and how that affected the family. How every child had to go out to work as soon as possible, education was not mandatory and health care was expensive and practically non-existent for members of this class of society. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in this time and place in history.

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