Book level : 6.0
Age level : no limit
The story has described the life of a daughter of a wealthy widow and a girl in the workhouse in the 1870s. When the main character, Edith, pay her first visit to the workhouse, she found herself lucky being fed healthy and full. The conditions of the workhouse was horrible. Edith discovered that the people in the workhouse were being whipped and treated badly - people don’t even have money for their funeral when the master of the workhouse ate good food and had to do nothing. People from the workhouse have to work from day to night and were little paid, they could not leave the workhouse once they got inside. When she witnessed the dead of one of the residents, she decided to help one of the girls, Rosie, and both of their lives were never the same again!
My favorite character in this book is Rosie, a girl in the workhouse. She remained bright and hopeful during terrible conditions of being whipped and threatened. I like this character because she fought for a better future and helped the residents risking her life and she did receive a better fortune. Therefore I liked this character. All the book characters seem alive to me as I am reading the book, the author described the characters using many different adjectives to show the character’s personality. The story kept the reader guessing for a few parts at the end of the story to gain attention from the reader and care for the ending. My favorite part of the book is when Rosie was set free from the workhouse, it was my favorite part because after all the disasters, Rosie has finally tasted the hint of freedom. The story made me cry at the beginning but laugh at the end of the escape of Rosie. The book focused on the theme of history and it was written in the format of diary to show us the daily lives of people from the past.