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All the People
Thirteen years after the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, the mill owner that led the murderous Yeomanry, Hugh Hornby Birley, the most hated man in Manchester, still casts a dark shadow over the impoverished area. His workers include the nine-year-old Mary Burns, whose family relies on her wages to survive. She will mature into a radical Chartist, fighting to change her world. James Hull is sent into the midst of the deprivation as a missionary but, faced with such misery, he abandons his spiritual mission to save lives. His wife, Elizabeth, is devastated by the portentous death of their eighteen-year-old daughter, consumed by such guilt that it threatens to overcome her. When the Chartists strike across the north-west in 1842 the harsh memories of Peterloo are rekindled. James and Mary support the strikers, confronting Birley, who is determined to resist the cries of working people. Each faces their own tragedy along with all the people, searching for the means and the will to survive.
262 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 26, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 2, 2020
This is a very original exploration of Manchester life and politics around 1840 at a time when ultra rapid industrialisation went hand in hand with extreme poverty and radical politics, as caught by writers as diverse as Elizabeth Gaskell and Friedrich Engels and embodied in the Chartist movement. Although the book unfolds twenty years after the Peterloo massacre the experience of that terrible occasion is one of the drivers of the plot.
Into this combustible city Kaye throws the very different force of the evangelical Moravian brotherhood in the form of James Hull and family, uprooted from rural Bedfordshire who have to work out a role ranging from spiritual guidance to staving off chronic hunger in their immediate community of Little Ireland. Hull finds himself in direct confrontation with Hugh Hornby Birley
once a leader of the Manchester Yeomanry who led the charge at Peterloo and whose conscience has never cleared even as he has become a key mill owner. The story embraces colourful characters such as the Chartist leader Fergus O’Connor and Mary Burns, a teenage mill worker and activist (who was later a partner of Engels). The book has a twin climax : on the one hand
the ‘plug drawing’ riots of 1842 and on the other the self questioning of James Hull as his wife dies with spiritual questions unanswered. Both of them catch in a very impressive way these dramatic years in Manchester’s history which have a universalist quality as metropolitan cities explode all
over today’s world.
Into this combustible city Kaye throws the very different force of the evangelical Moravian brotherhood in the form of James Hull and family, uprooted from rural Bedfordshire who have to work out a role ranging from spiritual guidance to staving off chronic hunger in their immediate community of Little Ireland. Hull finds himself in direct confrontation with Hugh Hornby Birley
once a leader of the Manchester Yeomanry who led the charge at Peterloo and whose conscience has never cleared even as he has become a key mill owner. The story embraces colourful characters such as the Chartist leader Fergus O’Connor and Mary Burns, a teenage mill worker and activist (who was later a partner of Engels). The book has a twin climax : on the one hand
the ‘plug drawing’ riots of 1842 and on the other the self questioning of James Hull as his wife dies with spiritual questions unanswered. Both of them catch in a very impressive way these dramatic years in Manchester’s history which have a universalist quality as metropolitan cities explode all
over today’s world.
April 16, 2020
James Hull is a farmer and a rising star in the newly formed United Brethren Church. He lives with his wife Elizabeth and their numerous children in peaceful Bedfordshire waiting for the call from the church leaders. When it comes, it will prove a testing time for all the family.
James has been chosen to be a missionary for the church – in Manchester. Elizabeth is doubtful about the upheaval and stalls the proposed change, asking God for a sign as to what they should do. Meanwhile their daughter Mary succumbs to illness and Elizabeth is now convinced that they should leave Bedfordshire, but blames herself for the child's death.
On a 'familiarity' trip to Manchester, James encounters nine-year-old Mary Burns who works in the mill owned by Hugh Hornby Birley, a powerful man who believes in the 'natural order' and will have no truck with the so-called Chartists, many of whom work for him.
The build up to James' mission and the subsequent events is perhaps a little overlong, but the incident where James meets Mary Burns was quite moving and did change my outlook: I did want to find out what happened and I did care for the people involved. After that point, the pace picks up quite considerably and culminates in a moving and emotional climax.
Thanks to the Author's Notes, I discovered that not only were the events true, but so were all the major characters. James Hull was a missionary for the United Brethren (also known as Moravians), Birley was every bit as bombastic as the author depicts him and Mary Burns became a major player in the Chartist movement.
After the slow start, I enjoyed this book and it would be ideal for anyone interested in the period or the place following the Peterloo Massacre and the conditions in which industrial workers were forced to live.
Reviewed on behalf of Discovering Diamonds Blog Spit
James has been chosen to be a missionary for the church – in Manchester. Elizabeth is doubtful about the upheaval and stalls the proposed change, asking God for a sign as to what they should do. Meanwhile their daughter Mary succumbs to illness and Elizabeth is now convinced that they should leave Bedfordshire, but blames herself for the child's death.
On a 'familiarity' trip to Manchester, James encounters nine-year-old Mary Burns who works in the mill owned by Hugh Hornby Birley, a powerful man who believes in the 'natural order' and will have no truck with the so-called Chartists, many of whom work for him.
The build up to James' mission and the subsequent events is perhaps a little overlong, but the incident where James meets Mary Burns was quite moving and did change my outlook: I did want to find out what happened and I did care for the people involved. After that point, the pace picks up quite considerably and culminates in a moving and emotional climax.
Thanks to the Author's Notes, I discovered that not only were the events true, but so were all the major characters. James Hull was a missionary for the United Brethren (also known as Moravians), Birley was every bit as bombastic as the author depicts him and Mary Burns became a major player in the Chartist movement.
After the slow start, I enjoyed this book and it would be ideal for anyone interested in the period or the place following the Peterloo Massacre and the conditions in which industrial workers were forced to live.
Reviewed on behalf of Discovering Diamonds Blog Spit
April 16, 2020
James Hull is a farmer and a rising star in the newly formed United Brethren Church. He lives with his wife Elizabeth and their numerous children in peaceful Bedfordshire waiting for the call from the church leaders. When it comes, it will prove a testing time for all the family.
James has been chosen to be a missionary for the church – in Manchester. Elizabeth is doubtful about the upheaval and stalls the proposed change, asking God for a sign as to what they should do. Meanwhile their daughter Mary succumbs to illness and Elizabeth is now convinced that they should leave Bedfordshire, but blames herself for the child's death.
On a 'familiarity' trip to Manchester, James encounters nine-year-old Mary Burns who works in the mill owned by Hugh Hornby Birley, a powerful man who believes in the 'natural order' and will have no truck with the so-called Chartists, many of whom work for him.
The build up to James' mission and the subsequent events is perhaps a little overlong, but the incident where James meets Mary Burns was quite moving and did change my outlook: I did want to find out what happened and I did care for the people involved. After that point, the pace picks up quite considerably and culminates in a moving and emotional climax.
Thanks to the Author's Notes, I discovered that not only were the events true, but so were all the major characters. James Hull was a missionary for the United Brethren (also known as Moravians), Birley was every bit as bombastic as the author depicts him and Mary Burns became a major player in the Chartist movement.
After the slow start, I enjoyed this book and it would be ideal for anyone interested in the period or the place following the Peterloo Massacre and the conditions in which industrial workers were forced to live.
Originally Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds
James has been chosen to be a missionary for the church – in Manchester. Elizabeth is doubtful about the upheaval and stalls the proposed change, asking God for a sign as to what they should do. Meanwhile their daughter Mary succumbs to illness and Elizabeth is now convinced that they should leave Bedfordshire, but blames herself for the child's death.
On a 'familiarity' trip to Manchester, James encounters nine-year-old Mary Burns who works in the mill owned by Hugh Hornby Birley, a powerful man who believes in the 'natural order' and will have no truck with the so-called Chartists, many of whom work for him.
The build up to James' mission and the subsequent events is perhaps a little overlong, but the incident where James meets Mary Burns was quite moving and did change my outlook: I did want to find out what happened and I did care for the people involved. After that point, the pace picks up quite considerably and culminates in a moving and emotional climax.
Thanks to the Author's Notes, I discovered that not only were the events true, but so were all the major characters. James Hull was a missionary for the United Brethren (also known as Moravians), Birley was every bit as bombastic as the author depicts him and Mary Burns became a major player in the Chartist movement.
After the slow start, I enjoyed this book and it would be ideal for anyone interested in the period or the place following the Peterloo Massacre and the conditions in which industrial workers were forced to live.
Originally Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews