Sweepings of the Street

Twelve-year-old Sarah Lee longs to remain in the golden fields under a starry sky forever, but life has other plans for her. After the spring of 1816 yields meager crops, Sarah’s family flees its home in the English countryside to labor at a textile factory in newly industrial London. Then a factory accident leaves Sarah’s father out of work and her family desperate for money. Despite the worries of her older brother Thomas, Sarah disguises herself and ventures into a dangerous new job.

Life in London is not as simple as it seems. Sarah meets Jamie, a sullen boy with secrets of his own, and his reluctance to trust strangers clashes with Sarah’s burning curiosity about his past. As the city creeps towards winter, Sarah and her friends face the horrors of London poverty—rising prices, rampant crime, disease, and hopelessness—and it becomes clear that not everyone will make it out alive. Everyone has a secret, and the consequences can be more devastating than any of them can imagine.