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Back Sisters of Gold Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Dedication page
  4. A Week’s Work in Birmingham
  5. I
  6. One
  7. Two
  8. Three
  9. Four
  10. Five
  11. Six
  12. Seven
  13. Eight
  14. Nine
  15. Ten
  16. Eleven
  17. Twelve
  18. Thirteen
  19. Fourteen
  20. Fifteen
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-One
  27. Twenty-Two
  28. Twenty-Three
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. II
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. III
  47. Forty
  48. Forty-One
  49. Forty-Two
  50. Forty-Three
  51. Forty-Four
  52. Forty-Five
  53. Forty-Six
  54. Forty-Seven
  55. Forty-Eight
  56. Forty-Nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-One
  59. Fifty-Two
  60. Fifty-Three
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Further Reading
  63. About the Author
  64. By the Same Author

‘Everything is so awful for them,’ she said, her voice muffled. ‘As if the whole world is against them just because they’re so poor. Why does God let things like this happen?’ She raised her wet face and looked into Margaret’s eyes. ‘Father always taught us that God is always in everything, working to the good. But why does God help some people more than others? They don’t stand a chance, these people, and it’s not fair.’

Margaret thought of the old adage, God helps those who help themselves. But that seemed no help either.

‘It isn’t,’ she said, feeling feeble at the thought of this great city about them, and this one single family with whose troubles they had become acquainted. ‘I don’t know what we can do except be kind where we can.’

‘She’s terrified she’ll end up in the workhouse,’ Margaret said to Aunt Hatt. Annie was bringing home daily bulletins of the Pooles’ misfortunes. Mary Poole was in a terrible state.

‘Well, she will, if she has much more trouble,’ Aunt Hatt said, her eyes wide with sorrow. She looked across at Margaret. ‘I s’pose I’ve not really known all this close up before.’ Like Eb, she seemed shaken by the harsh lives of people around her who she did not normally see.

‘She didn’t have a very good start,’ Margaret said. ‘She’s got no one else in the world – that she knows of, anyway. I know her husband’s not well and he can’t help it, but she must feel very let down by him.’

Margaret and Annie visited the family – or what remained of it – most days, taking anything they could think of in the way of help. Lizzie came to the factory red-eyed and worked her press all day as if she was a machine herself.

‘All I can do is keep working,’ she said helplessly to Annie, as they sat together one dinner break. Her hands, chapped, red with rash, were never still. ‘I don’t know how to help our mom. And poor Ivy – ’er’s like a little lost soul without Ada. ’Er’s hardly said a word since . . .’ She put her head in her hands and wept, her fragile frame racked with sobs.

Annie did her best to comfort her, when there was so little comfort to be had.

And still, no one knew where Den had gone.

Thirty

Thirty

‘Margaret.’

Someone was shaking her shoulder, a hand on her arm. It was him again, pawing at her, his eyes boring into her . . .

‘No! NO! Get off me!’ She sat up, lashing out feverishly.

‘Margaret! It’s all right. I never meant to startle you, bab.’ Aunt Harriet was standing over her, holding a candle, her hair in a long plait. Her nightdress was covered by her long plum-coloured dressing gown. She looked startled by the violence of Margaret’s reaction.