The year is 1842, and you have been taken from your mother in London to work in a cotton mill in smoky Manchester. The work is hard and dangerous: you are likely to go deaf and suffer from lung disease, and you could easily lose limbs. Is there no hope for you? Will things ever get better? Will you see your mother again? The humorous cartoon-style illustrations and the narrative approach encourage readers to get emotionally involved with the characters, aiding their understanding of what life would have been like for workers in a Victorian Mill. Informative captions, a complete glossary and an index make this title an ideal introduction to the conventions of non-fiction texts for young readers.