“Alice is cast in the mold of a character created by an earlier Alcott, the passionate and spunky Jo March. A refreshingly old-fashioned heroine, she makes THE DARING LADIES OF LOWELL appealing”--The New York Times Book Review“Offers up a compelling slice of both feminist and Industrial Age history”--Christian Science MonitorFrom the New York Times bestselling author of THE DRESSMAKER comes a moving historical novel about a bold young woman drawn to the looms of Lowell, Massachusetts--and to the one man with whom she has no business falling in love. Eager to escape life on her family’s farm, Alice Barrow moves to Lowell in 1832 and throws herself into the hard work demanded of “the mill girls.”  In spite of the long hours, she discovers a vibrant new life and a true friend—a saucy, strong-willed girl name Lovey Cornell. But conditions at the factory become increasingly dangerous, and Alice finds the courage to represent the workers and their grievances.  Although mill owner, Hiram Fiske, pays no heed, Alice attracts the attention of his eldest son, the handsome and reserved Samuel Fiske. Their mutual attraction is intense, tempting Alice to dream of a different future for herself. This dream is shattered when Lovey is found strangled to death. A sensational trial follows, bringing all the unrest that’s brewing to the surface. Alice finds herself torn between her commitment to the girls in the mill and her blossoming relationship with Samuel.  Based on the actual murder of a mill girl and the subsequent trial in 1833, THE DARING LADIES OF LOWELL brilliantly captures a transitional moment in America’s history while also exploring the complex nature of love, loyalty, and the enduring power of friendship. 

Product Description: Her luminous first novel, Moon Women, won the hearts of both readers and critics, who called it “richly textured...a pleasure to be savored by a writer to watch.” (Kirkus Reviews) Now Pamela Duncan returns to the rich landscape of the human heart with a lush, resonant novel about mothers and daughters, about family and friendship, about a woman at a turning point in her life and the extraordinary world she discovers in a place called home…Plant LifeIt’s Christmastime in Russell, North Carolina...read more

As the Industrial Revoltion sweeps across the land, three adventuresome women will be transformed when they become 'mill girls', in three complete novels.

Lilly plans to take revenge against the wealthy mill owners for her father's death and stealing his farm until she discovers Matthew Cheever is involved.

Drawn to local Irish artisan Liam despite the attentions of the new local doctor, Daughtie works alongside Liam helping runaway slaves and finds her position with the textile mill challenged by cutbacks and an impending strike.

Leaving her Shaker community for a more independent life in the mill town of Lowell, Massachusetts, Arabella Newberry works for educational reform and endeavors to choose between two men in the face of a series of abductions that point to a dangerous conflict in the local industry. Original.

When her grandmother sends her alone on a difficult journey up North, fourteen-year-old Amanda encounters the exploitation of women in textile mills

After being sent to live with her father, young Amanda must decide whether to mend the broken bond that took place as a result of his desertion or find a way to let the relationship go in order to begin to a life of her own. Reprint.

When her grandmother sends her alone on a difficult journey up North, fourteen-year-old Amanda encounters the exploitation of women in textile mills

Growing up on a small New England farm, a determined young nineteenth-century woman named Aimee Slater ventures to Lowell, Massachusetts, to find work, a move that causes her to be torn between the sensual world she desires and the divine retribution passed down to her by her mother's scorn. Reprint. 25,000 first printing. NYT.

Product Description: Folly is a working-class, lesbian novel about black and white women who go on strike in a North Carolina factory town—and two of them fall in love. Tillie Olsen said that this novel "speaks with an authenticity, a force, a caring that deepens and enlarges us...read more