WARNING! This book may contain NUTS! (Non-Uniform Text Speech)In other words speech in what some have called “Olde English Vernacular”. It is spoken by characters in the book from the North, the Midlands and the South of England. There is a glossary at the end of the book to help if you can rise to the challenge. It adds shades of colour to this 19th century story that you may not be expecting.… expecting.
When Mrs Alexander wrote about “the rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate” and declared that “God made them, high or lowly, and order’d their estate” in the ever popular hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful, she was probably reflecting one of the mores of the times. It would fit in well with prejudices and beliefs of the middle and upper classes that paternalism had indeed been intended by God, thus laws protecting the workers in their fields, mills and factories were not necessary. In the words of Browning so long as “God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world!”
The continuing story of the Quarry Bank Runaways is about what happened to two cotton apprentices over three decades during the Industrial Revolution; first as qualified young men with hopes and later when they are full grown. By the start of the Victorian period the fates and their ambitions would have collided. Serious events and incidents, both personal and national, were about to impinge upon the lives of Thomas Priestley and Joseph Sefton, who had earlier run away from their apprentice master, Samuel Greg. What would cause a qualified mule spinner to give up his comparatively safe job and risk failure, ridicule or destitution? Ambitious and determined working class individuals like Tommy and Joe had to carefully step through a pathway involving love, loyalty and legal persecution and prejudice, from within the social hierarchy of the times.
The inspiration to write The Quarry Bank Runaways and Mules; Masters & Mud came about after reading The Real Oliver Twist by John Waller, a biography of Robert Blincoe, and acting as a tour guide around the Quarry Bank Mill Museum in England. There to discover the existence of the real apprentices and the lives of many child cotton apprentices during the Industrial Revolution.
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This is a great continuation of the story begun in ‘The Quarry Bank Runaways’ and gives us a wonderful insight into life during the period of time known as the Industrial Revolution in Midlands UK during the 1800’s.
The author has taken facts and woven them into a truly believable tale of the two youngsters from the first book, now grown into adulthood and beyond, covering their family life and how they both shaped their future and that of their descendants.
In this book the characters are all very well expanded and remain solid and rounded within the framework of the story. The author weaves the facts of the people and the time into a very creditable novel that has been extremely well researched which shows in the powerful narrative. It would perhaps be interesting to add in family trees for the major characters like the boys and the mill owners they had dealings with such as the Gregg family, particularly around the time each book is set.
The issue of the vernacular does need some addressing though – for me, personally, it fits well with the story and needs little, if any, explaining given I come from an area where the dialect has its own peculiarities and am now resident in the areas where the story is set. There are many readers, however, that are very unfamiliar with any of the dialects here in the UK and struggle with the story because of its extensive use in the book. I am unsure of how to address this issue totally successfully in this instance as it did enhance the story for me. The glossary is extensive and very helpful to a reader but cumbersome to use in e-format.
All in all I would recommend this book, especially to anyone who likes a historical connection in a story
MULES; MASTERS & MUD, by G.J. Griffiths, is the sequel to his book THE QUARRY BANK RUNAWAYS. In it, Joseph Sefton is desperately tying to extract himself from the cotton mill he’s indentured to and buy into a farm owned by the elderly widow Marion Milner, all the while trying to become engaged to Ellie Brightwell. Meanwhile, Joseph’s best friend Thomas Priestley, also indentured to the cotton mill, desperately searches for his and Joseph’s younger siblings.
The dialog from 1806 takes a little getting used to, but the glossary in the back of the book is helpful. Obviously well researched, it’s an interesting look at the hard times of pre-Industrial Revolution England during the last half of King George III’s reign.
This book is heart wrenching, emotional and, vividly displays a sad, dark history of child labor exploitation. During the Industrial Revolution children throughout England were forced to work in workhouses and “apprenticeships” to pay off their family’s debts, and age did not matter. Griffiths paints a historically accurate picture of the bleakness, the poverty, and the desperation of the era.
In book one Tom and Joe run away from the mill where both have contracted mill-lung, where the cotton fibers are inhaled and causes bronchial issues. These two young men, despite their class, lack of education, money and social connections are determined to improve their fortunes.
Families are torn apart and love ones are lost due to debt, workhouses, and apprenticeships. However, Tom and Joe keep trying to succeed, and these two young men are to be admired for no other reason than just their true grit.
However, it must be noted that Griffiths does a marvelous job of laying out the landscape of England at the time, he even seems to capture the dreariness of the weather, and the continuous smoke generated due to automation. He also brilliantly displays the “dog eat dog” mentality of society. The rich get richer, and the poor get nothing. The poor are reduced to being crabs in a barrel trying to pull each other down or trying to scam each other like the Grimbles. Fortunately, there are a few bright lights of humanity that shine through brightly like Mrs. Milner and Rachel.
Although a work of fiction, please do not mistake anything in this book as being an exaggeration on events that may have happened to children during 19th Century England, for the truth of the author’s testimony, one only needs to look to the powerhouse of 19th Century British Literature, Charles Dickens. The master storyteller as a child, Dickens worked as an apprentice in a bootblack factory to pay off his family’s debts.
The book is well written; the characters can stand on their own and are engaging. This book is many things, but primarily it’s a coming of age story about the bonds of friendship. It’s also a clear political commentary by the author on the mistreatment of children, and the inequality of the class system in the 19th Century.
The story is written in old English vernacular, and some may have an issue with it. Fortunately, it didn’t particularly bother me. However, I do see how it can be a distraction to some.
I don’t want to give too much away, but if you’re looking for a happy ending, this is not your book, and you may want to get yourself a hankie for the very end. I know I was a little teary.
Mules, Masters, & Mud covers a time period and place where I had very little background knowledge ahead of time. The author did a great job in describing the conditions of the cotton mill, the struggle of the families to survive and improve their situations, and the personalities involved in the story. Despite the hardships, Joseph and Thomas offer hope and work to pull themselves up from their straits.
I enjoyed the subplots and characters, especially the Luddites and their interaction with the other groups. The social commentary was extensive, but didn’t come across as burdensome or excessively preachy. The gritty, realistic scenes and ugly details worked perfectly in this environment, and made it more vivid and poignant. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the time period or story.