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Cathy Sharp

Heartbreaking and uplifting, the story of the workhouse orphan, Eliza, will touch your heart…
Eliza was left as a small baby at the workhouse in Whitechapel, wrapped in her mother’s shawl, which is all she has of the mother she never knew. At eleven years-old, she has survived sickness, near starvation and harsh beatings.
Master Simpkins and his cruel daughter rule the workhouse with a rod of iron, but when Romany boy, Joe, arrives at the workhouse, his spirit and courage give Eliza hope that another life is waiting for her outside.
When she is sold into service, Eliza is relieved to be out of the workhouse and hopes her fortunes are changing for the better, but cruelty and unkindness are everywhere and her salvation could become her ruin…

Antonia Beamish

HarperCollins

The Children of the Workhouse

The Girl in the Ragged Shawl

The heart-breaking and compelling new book set in a Victorian workhouse from the author of the The Orphans of Halfpenny Street
 
When Lucy and her brother, Joshua, are orphaned, it falls to Joshua to provide for them both, but he is barely into his teens and in his naivety, falls prey to bad influences and drink. Lucy is desperate to avoid the workhouse, but when Joshua loses their meagre savings they are thrown out onto the street and, in dire poverty, it isn’t long before Lucy finds herself at its gates – almost a fate worse than death.

Inside the workhouse, Lucy meets with unkindness and cruelty and she knows she must dig deep within herself if she is to survive, let alone thrive. What Lucy needs is a friend and she is surprised to find one in the most unlikely place…

The Barefoot Child

A heartbreaking story of one child’s courage, from the bestselling author of The Orphan’s of Halfpenny Street.
Ella has never known love. Left as a baby outside the workhouse, Ella has only ever been treated with unkindness; especially from the hateful guardians of the workhouse, who hold the fate of the inmates in their cruel hands.
When she is sold as a scullery maid to a new home, Ella hopes for a better life. But her hopes are dashed as she struggles to do all the work heaped on her thin shoulders by her brutish master.
Daring to escape her harsh treatment, it isn’t long before she is caught and once again finds herself at the mercy of an uncaring world. Can Ella resist giving in to despair and somehow to find the strength to carry on alone…

The Winter Orphan