For Want of a Penny - a YA survival tale set in Victorian England

Synopsis:
For Want of a Penny is the first part of a two book Victorian saga –The Nightingale Chronicles is set in 1840s Colchester and the east end of London. A family tragedy means Sarah is forced to go into service at Grey Friars House as an under nursery-maid. Meanwhile her younger brother Alfie, to avoid being taken into the workhouse, runs away to London to seek his fortune. 
Although the situation wasn’t of her making Sarah thrives, but just as she is becoming established in the household her past returns to shatter her happy life and she is dismissed without references. 
Alfie arrives in London but is tricked and sold to work as a slave on a coal barge. However, eventually he prospers and begins to make himself a better life.

My thoughts:

I didn’t realize that Fenella Miller had so many mainstream romance novels. The first book of hers that ended up in my hands “For Want of a Penny”, an early Victorian, working class coming of age story. Personally, I enjoy reading about the Oliver Twist crowd. Following a freak accident that claims the life of their younger half-brother – and incurs the wrath of their aloof stepfather – Sarah and Alfie, two working class teenagers, are left to fend for themselves. Their sickly mother is in no position to defend them as she embraces what psychologists call “learned helplessness” and chooses the path of least resistance – in her case, following her alcoholic husband to another city to “start a new life”. With help from a local minister, Sarah is able to secure a sought after position as a nursemaid in a wealthy household. It takes her a while to establish herself in a predominantly female team, where an ally can turn into a rival. Alfie discovers that his street smarts are not sufficient. After being tricked into slavery and spending several months in horrible conditions, he breaks free and finds himself on the streets. His freedom is short-lived. Almost immediately, he finds himself a member of a boy gang, where his literacy gives him special status. Remember, this was a time before social media. People grieved and lamented in private. They did not air their sorrow to the world. The characters process their emotional suffering in silence, sustained by their will to survive. Despite all the disturbing social issues addressed in the novel, “For Want of a Penny” does not have a dark and heavy vibe. I’d recommend it for young adults interested in learning more about how their peers lived 170 years ago.