The rope carrier - Theresa Tomlinson

Set in the late 18th century and illustrated with contemporary engravings, this is the story of Minnie Dakin, the youngest of the ropemaker's daughters. She lives with her family - and a whole community - underground, in a huge cave in Derbyshire. The life she leads is hard but not unhappy. The family is split, though, when her sister, Netty, gets married and goes to live in Sheffield. After a while, Minnie goes to join, when news comes through that Netty is seriously ill. Experiencing a large town for the first time, Minnie is shocked and appalled by what she finds. It is the beginning of the Industrial Revolution - working conditions are harsh, the debtors' prison is full, the enclosure of common land threatens poverty, squalor and injustice, which tests Minnie's courage and strength to the full.;Theresa Tomlinson has also written "The Water Cat", "Summer Witches" (also entitled "A Secret Place"), "The Flither Pickers" and "Riding the Waves" (commended for the 1991 Carnegie Medal).