The Workhouse Boy

A Young Adult historical novel Ireland, 1870s. Times were hard and life was grim in those days. If you had no work, you lost your home. If you had nowhere to live, you went into the workhouse – or emigrated. This is the story about the brothers Jake and Eamon Miller and their family, buffeted about in those times of hardship… An early version of this novel was read to schoolchildren in Londonderry and the teacher told the author that she’d never had such a good strong reaction from her children over a story. “This is a Dickensian story of tenant farmers, father, mother, and sons, in Northern Ireland. When one son emigrates, the rest are unable to continue the farm, and are evicted by their landlord. After fruitless efforts at begging in the streets of Derry, the three end up in a workhouse (poorhouse). This is run by a villainous ‘Master’ and his sadistic underlings. Boys, girls, men, and women are housed separately in primitive conditions and forbidden to mix. Ultimate punishment is solitary confinement in a ‘punishment room’ without facilities. The story centers on the boy, Jake, a feisty kid