From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-After his father's death at Gettysburg, Patrick O'Neill's mother moves the family to New Jersey and then to Leland, MA, to work in the mills. Patrick dreams of going to college and becoming a writer and feels stifled by the oppressiveness of factory work and poverty. When a fellow worker is crippled on the job, he discovers The Worker's Voice (writers needed), but it is not until his sister Abigail is killed in a mill accident that he decides to fulfill his desire to write for the newspaper. The story is filled with inconsistencies, both in detail and in character. In the first chapter, Patrick is 8, but by the third-a year and a half later-he is 12. The story also has far too many coincidences. Even Abigail's death conspires to get Patrick closer to his dream. Overall, Massie tries to do too much, covering conditions in the United States after the Civil War, the dangers of millwork, and the prejudice encountered by immigrants. Readers would be better served by Katherine Paterson's Lyddie (Lodestar, 1991) or James Collier's The Clock (Dell, 1994).
Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, MA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Massie's sharp observations and eye for detail bring her characters to life and lend credence to the unfamiliar surrounding." Publishers Weekly on Sineater
--This text refers to an alternate
Mass Market Paperback
edition.
