Haworth's never engages.  It's not that it doesn't have any likeable characters (they're in short supply, but many a novel has got by without any), it's that it lacks any interesting characters.  There's a mill owner who worked his way up from being a hand and dotes on his mother, there's an American whose father spent his life working on an unspecified invention who feels compelled to finish the work, there's a comedy poor old lady, there's some other people too, I guess.  The interesting character is Miss Ffrench, daughter of the mill owner's partner, who has been raised to do what is economical, even in choosing a spouse (or rather, her father choosing her a spouse), but seems to feel some moral conflict-- it's hard to tell.  She does something nice for someone at one point, but it doesn't stick.  It's also hard to tell who the hero actually gets together with, but because it's so hard to care, I didn't try to find out very much.

This is one of Ms. Burnett's novels for adults. Jem Haworth was just a runaway boy when he collapsed in the snow in front of a foundry 20 years ago. The book opens with that same foundry having its name changed to Haworth's Iron Works. The workers speak in their local dialect, but it can be understood.

There's a rich gentleman, Mr. Ffrench, who wants to become Haworth's partner. Mr. Ffrench has a beautiful daughter, Rachel, who looks down on the working class, though her father doesn't. She's fond of power. Rachel's response to Haworth's engineer, Hilary Murdoch, who saved her life would probably make some readers wish he hadn't bothered; if it weren't clear that she didn't realize that he saved her life. I like Jem's dear old widowed mother much better. Granny Dixon, another character, speaks her mind and her comments are fun to read. Her great-granddaughter, Janey Briarley, is a nice girl. I liked Janey's reaction when Haworth tried to bribe her to gossip about a friend. Christian Murdoch, cousin to the engineer who is the novel's real hero, is a very strong young woman worth 40 of Miss Ffrench.

There's a strike. A mob in an ugly mood comes to the Ffrench residence, and Miss Ffrench shows more backbone than her father. She even dares the mob to do their worst -- which suggests to me that she has no idea what their worse could be. Murdoch is working on his father's failed invention. Will he have better results? Miss Ffrench shows an uglier side to her nature later on. Too bad for her that Haworth isn't going to meekly let her get away with it. Mr. Ffrench is a fool as well as a coward. Mr. Briarley, Janey's father, is also a coward. Their fates could have been worse.

Loved Granny Dixon's revelation to Miss Ffrench, as well as the contents of Granny's will. Miss Ffrench's fate didn't leave me feeling one bit sorry for her.

As for the illustrations, the artists' names had to be taken from the art itself. J.P. Davis did the frontispiece. I have no idea what the "Sc" means. Davis and Beller (that's what the name looks like) did the illustration before page 1.
F.D. did the one between pp.80-81. The one between pp.116-117 is by F.D. and E. Heinemann. They also did the one between pp.182-183, though Heinemann has "Sc" after the name this time. The illustration between pp.278-279 is by F.D. and E. R. F? (it might be a T.) F.D. and A.W. Sc did the one between pp. 322-323. A. Whitney and F.D. did the last illustration, which is between pp.330-331.

I find it interesting that the addresses for the publisher and printer give the numbers and streets, but don't identify the city. I guess even back in 1879 saying "New York" without naming any town or city was enough for readers to know that you meant "New York City". Some of the pages of book ads are mostly torn away in my copy, but the ads for Ms. Burnett's That Lass o' Lowrie's & Surly Tim and Other Stories remain. In 1879 one could buy That Lass o' Lowrie's with a paper cover for 90 cents. I'm not sure if the "$1.50 extra cloth" means that the hardcover version cost $1.50 or $2.40. ( )