Cottonopolis

A pacy, historical novella dashed with a touch of fantasy, Cottonopolis stars 12-year-old Nellie Doyle, a mill girl who we meet just as her family are on the edge of destitution with the loss of her father’s job. A meeting with a circus owner, a gift of strange magic and the arrival of workhouse girl, Chloe Valentine into her life all offer new possibilities. Set in the slums of 1940s Little Ireland, Manchester, and inspired by the author’s own genealogy, Cottonopolis offers a still-too-rare (for children’s books) picture of working-class life which eschews sentimentality. Conditions of poverty, unjust labour conditions and struggle are all recognised while the protagonists go about their lives with pluck, wit and self-respect. A well imagined slim novel which also packs in early Irish migration, the cotton industry’s dependence on the slave trade, the UK abolitionist movement and the presence of queer and people of colour in pre-twentieth century Britain. The author’s backnotes offer several references and influences which will propel a keen reader into further research including Francis Frederick, Chloe Gambia and Mary Burns, the partner of Friedrich Engels. Micro publisher, Northodox Press, sets out to ‘elevate northern writers and represent the diversity of writing from Northern England’. A debut, Cottonopolis shortlisted for the Little Rebels Award 2025 and a Reading Guide is available from the award website.