Synopses & Reviews
Late by only a minute, ten-year-old Emma has been locked out of the mill where she works ten hours a day at the silk-spinning machines. Her pay will be docked; she is sure to be beaten by her brother-in-law, Ben, when she gets home; and none of it is her fault. She sinks to the ground and cries. Then, through her tears, she sees a gate in a wall, a gate she has never seen before. Hesitantly she pushes through, putting off her return home. And through that gate she finds not only a waterway, which she later learns is a canal, and a strangely beautiful boat, but the entrance to a whole new future.
Synopsis
Ellen Howard pens a charming young adult novel revealing the hardships of life for poor, ten-year-old Emma in mid-1800s England. When ten-year-old Emma is late by one minute to her job at the silk mill where she works ten hours a day, she is locked out. Even though none of it is her fault, she is certain her pay will be docked and her brother-in-law, Ben, will beat her when she gets home. With no idea what to do, she sinks to the ground and cries.
Until, through her tears, she sees a gate in a wall that she has never spotted before. Hesitantly, she pushes the gates open, putting off her return home. As she passes through the gate, she spots a strangely beautiful boat floating in a canal.
With nothing but hope, the gate brings Emma into an entirely new life as she finds a way to utilize her artistic gifts as a canal woman.