Angels of the mud

Nell Masters is a sixteen-year-old, born midst the slums and grog houses of Old Portsmouth: a place where children practice the act of mudlarking, some for the fun and experience, but all too often for the price of a meal. Nell is forced to become a factory seamstress, the breadwinner by her work-shy young mother. She is a pretty girl, a quality that is soon to cause her problems with some of her fellow workers. Dislike becomes something more sinister when Nell finds love in the form of her boss’s nephew. Jealousy becomes the motive for Scheming work associates to lure her into a district rife with prostitution. This draws Nell into events involving rape and murder. Then if the shame of an unwanted pregnancy is not enough for her to contend with, the hangman’s rope casts a shadow over her. Nell’s life sinks into a chasm, she is faced with two choices, perish in the snow or make for the Workhouse. Surely, things cannot get any worse; or is fate planning a rockslide? This is just the beginning.