A Candle in the Dark

by Robert Swindells

Young Jimmy Booth is glad to leave the workhouse for a job in a coal mine, but soon finds himself in worse danger than he could have imagined.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Robert Swindells was born in Bradford in 1939, the eldest of five children. He left the local Secondary Modern School at fifteen to work as a copy holder on the local newspaper. At seventeen he enlisted in the RAF and served for three years, two in Germany. On being discharged he worked as a clerk, engineer and printer until 1969 when he entered college to train as a teacher having obtained five 'O' levels at night-school. His first book 'When Darkness Comes' was written as a college thesis and published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1972. In 1980 he gave up teaching to write full time. He likes travelling and visits many schools each year, talking and reading stories to children. He is the secutatry of his local Peace Movement group. Brother in the Land is his first book for Oxford University Press. He is married with two grown-up daughters and lives in Bradford.

Author description taken from Brother in the Land.

Reviews

[charrrlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

ik ben na al die jaren nog steeds niet goed van het einde

[Jacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been on my bookshelf unread for years and random chance brought me to it now. Jimmy Booth goes from picking oakum in the Union Workhouse to a new life as a pit brat, bought by a burly collier to replace his previous 'hurrier' who met with a mysterious accident. Rather than a life of employment Jimmy soon discovers that there are worse things than picking oakum. When he's sent down into the depths of Rawdon Pit. But he's befriended by Trapper Joe and when they discover that there are nasty goings on happening at the mine the boys run away to find Mr Croft, a local reformer who helps pit brats like them. But Croft is in trouble himself, his brother and a large amount of money have gone missing. The two pit brats finally see the truth revealed, but this gritty and realistic book is not going to deliver a complete happy ending, though it does deliver a satisfying one.

[Kristina]

I finally found it again! I read this as a kid in the library and gave myself nightmares. So good.