The Twisted Threads of Polly Freeman

Polly and her Great Aunt sail very close to the wind, living by their wits and sewing, but when they are sent to Workhouse in 1838, and they are separated. Great Aunt Jemima goes to the lunatic ward and Polly is sent to the girls’ ward where she spends her days splitting tar covered rope and things look very black indeed. Polly dreams of escaping but luckily for her, this comes with the cart taking children to work in the cotton mills. But when her friend Min dies from an horrific accident while collecting the fluff underneath the machines, Polly decides to make her escape again, and be re-united with Great Aunt Jemima. Her plans do not go just as she had hoped but all ends well, setting up for a sequel perhaps?

This seemingly light-hearted tale does go quite deeply into the appalling conditions both at the St. Pancras Workhouse and also at the mill, based on the Quarry Bank Mill. Pippa Goodhart has done her research, and details on which she based the story are at the end of the book. Modern children will be horrified at the conditions under which the children worked, not to mention the age at which they started, and the very real danger pointed out by Min’s death. It is not until almost halfway through the book that Polly’s heritage is mentioned, and the trail to her missing father appears which adds another interesting dimension to the story.

Polly is a resourceful heroine, with the added interest of being very good at sewing especially embroidery which gives her the way out to be reunited with Great Aunt Jemima. The tools of sewing, embroidery and the fabric flowers made by the Great Aunt decorate the pages and the cover by Helen Crawford-White. The ending is rather convenient which does let the story down a little, but does not take away the impact of the story of poverty stricken and abandoned children in Victorian England.