The Whispering Road
By Livi Michael
Puffin Books
ISBN: 0141317035
Main Characters:
1. Joe
2. Annie
What It's All About
Brother and sister, Joe and Annie, run away from their
master, a cruel farmer who bought them from a workhouse. The children
were left there by their mother who promised to come back for them.
Like most workhouse children, Joe and Annie are ill-treated - beaten,
starved and over-worked.One night, Joe decides to flee and takes Annie
with him. So starts a journey full of dangers and evils.
What I Like About It
It's a fast-paced, exciting story, with characters (Joe and Annie as well as the people they meet along the way) you can really believe in.
What I Didn't Like About It
It's very sad. However, that's also what makes it good. Michael is
simply describing a state of affairs that actually existed. This is no
fantasy but the grim truth of 19th century England. What's
really heartbreaking is that Joe and Annie's life is really not too different from that of children living in poverty in
many countries, right now in the 21st century!
If You Like The Sound of This book, You Should Also Try:
Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Reviewed by: Daphne Lee
This featured review was published on Sunday, 13th February, 2005 in StarMag.
THE WHISPERING ROAD
By Livi Michael
Publisher: Puffin
ISBN: 0141317035
LIVI Michael was inspired to write this story after she read about a 19th century English farmer who worked children to death. He and his wife started by choosing a boy and girl from a workhouse. When the children died, other similar-looking workhouse waifs took their place. This went on for several years, with pairs of dead children being constantly replaced, until the mother of one of these unfortunates came in search of her.
In The Whispering Road, Joe and Annie are a brother and sister who escape certain death by running away from a master who beats and starves them. However, once they’ve made their escape, the siblings face a new set of problems: where to go and what to do next. Their mother who left them at a workhouse promised that she would be back for them, but they have no way of finding her. Nevertheless, their memory of her and the possibility of a reunion makes them determined to survive.
That they succeed is something of a miracle especially in a time when even children may be hanged for wandering into an unfamiliar field. Joe and Annie are fortunate in that most of the people they meet following their getaway are relatively harmless. In fact, a few try their very best to help the pair. These include Travis, a wandering storyteller; the dreadful yet fascinating Dog-woman; and the members of a travelling fair.
The children’s adventures move the story along briskly. There are close-shaves, disasters and disappointments; scenes of gut-wrenching brutality and of heart-breaking pathos. Joe makes a decision that leaves you speechless and outraged; and Annie’s ability to see the dead is revealed in a scene that will chill you to the bone.
On the whole, it’s a book that isn’t easy to stomach especially when one is aware that the events described by Michael are based on historical facts. The “happy” ending that awaits Joe and Annie is not terribly comforting when you realise the majority of workhouse children ended up dead. Even worse is to know that there are people who are suffering much the same fate in the 21st century!
As corny as it sounds, books like The Whispering Road remind us to count our blessings and hold on more fiercely to those we love. They enrich our lives by exposing the world to us in all its horror and glory. Thanks to them history is transformed, no longer a dead thing but teeming with living, breathing souls; electric with the very best and worst of what life has to offer.
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