Mill Girl

Mill Girl
Book no.	13
Series	My Story
Author	Sue Reid
Publisher	Scholastic UK
Published	June 21, 2002
Pages	224
ISBN	9780439981187
Setting	Ancoats, Manchester
Timeline	April 1842 – April 1843
Preceded by
Chronology	Dodger!
Publication	Battle of Britain
Followed by
Chronology	The Hunger
Publication	Transported

"I stood here, watching them as they argued. Father stubborn, telling Mother how much we needed the money; Mother saying that he'd failed us, let the family down. I hardly heard them, I felt so far away. I felt as though it wasn't really me they were talking about. As if I wasn't Eliza any more, just a pair of hands. Factory hands."

—Eliza Helsted

Mill Girl: The Diary of Eliza Helsted is the thirteenth fictional diary in Scholastic UK's My Story series. The book was Sue Reid's first for the series. It was published in June 2002, and reissued in May 2008 and February 2015. The book was followed by Transported by Goldie Alexander.

Thirteen-year-old Eliza Helsted has to quit school and start working at a mill in order to help her family.

Dedication

"For my sister"

Book description

• 1st
• 2nd
• 3rd
• Welsh

"Saturday 21st May, 1842
Something terrible has happened. I can scarcely bring myself to write the words. I AM TO START AT THE MILL ON MONDAY.
"You said never," I cried to Mother.
Her face was white.
"Oh Eliza," she said. "I'm so sorry. If there was anything I could have done..."
"Where am I to work? I demanded. The room was so quiet that I could hear myself breathe.
"In the carding room. Sickness. They need more hands."
I wasn't Eliza any more, just a pair of hands. Factory hands."

"In spring 1842 Eliza is shocked when she is sent to work in the Manchester cotton mills–the noisy, suffocating mills. The work is backbreaking and dangerous–and when she sees her friends' lives wrecked by poverty, sickness and unrest, Eliza realizes she must fight to escape the fate of a mill girl..."

""Chained to the machine we are, and always will be," I said. "We'll never escape them."
In spring 1842, Eliza is shocked when she is sent to work in the Manchester cotton mills—the noisy, suffocating mills where the work is backbreaking and dangerous. When she sees her friends' lives wrecked by poverty, sickness and unrest, Eliza must make a decision: will she be worn down by factory life or will she fight for change for those she cares about?"

"Dydd Sadwrn, Mai 21, 1842
Mae rhywbeth echrydus wedi digwydd.
Rwy'n methu hyd yn oed ysgrifennu'r geiriau'n iawn.
RWY'N DECHRAU GWEITHIO YN Y FELIN DDYDD LLUN.
"Ddwedest ti na," gwaeddais ar Mam.
Roedd ei hwyneb fel y galchen.
"O Eliza," meddai, "Mae'n ddrwg gen i.
Pe bai unrhyw ateb arall..."
"Ble fydda i'n gweithio?" gofynnais.
Yn y tawelwch ro'n i'n gallu clywed fy hun yn anadlu.
"Yn y stafell gribo. Salwch. Mae angen pâr arall o ddwylo yno."
Fel petwn i, Eliza, wedi diflannu.
Dim ond par o ddwylo oeddwn i bellach.
Dwylo gweithiwr."

Characters

Main article: List of Mill Girl characters

• Eliza Helsted

Author

Main article: Sue Reid

Sue Reid is an English author whose work is aimed at children and young adults. She worked as an editorial assistant at a publishing house before becoming an author. Mill Girl was Reid's first book for My Story. She enjoyed the researching and writing process, especially since the Industrial Revolution had always fascinated her. Reid visited Manchester, where the book is set, and Helmshore to see a working factory. For My Story, she also wrote War Nurse, Pompeii, The Fall of the Blade, Give Us the Vote!, and Lady Jane Grey.

Editions

• Physical
• eBook

Merch y Felin
Fy Hanes I
9781843233572
(October 2002)

Mill Girl
My Story reprint
9781407103730
(May 2008)

Mill Girl
My Story reprint
9781407152530
(February 2015)

Mill Girl
My Story eBook
B00S54RXNU
(February 2015)

Acknowledgments

"A number of people and organizations have helped me with my research for this book. In particular I'd like to thank the following: Cecil Black, Duncan Broady (Greater Manchester Police Museum), Frances Casey (National Army Museum), Adam Daber and staff at Quarry Bank Mill (National Trust), Styal, Kate Dickson and Steve Little (Ancoats Building Preservation Trust), Ian Gibson and the staff of Helmshore Textile Museums, Lancashire, Manchester Central Library Local Studies Unit, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool, Andy Pearce (People's History Museum, Manchester), Professor M E Rose (Manchester University), Ray Walker (Working Class Movement Library, Salford), Pauline Webb (Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester).
My thanks also go to Jill Sawyer at Scholastic and to Ali Evans for editing the book."

Notes

• The portrait on the cover of the first edition is a detail from Alexey Venetsianov's late 1820s painting Girl in a Shawl. The background was licensed from Topham Picturepoint.
• The cover of the second edition was illustrated by artist Richard Jones.

External links

• Mill Girl on Sue Reid's website