Childhood and Death in Victorian England

Kleenex alert
You are going to want a box of kleenex with you as you read through this heartbreaking book. As a mother, it was very difficult to read, but as a historian, it was full of great information!
I ran through the gambit of emotions on this one - anger, sadness, righteous indignation. Now, taking all that aside, I had to put it in the context of the times. Things were different, and I tell my students that we have to be careful to not place the strictures of today on the past.
Reading through stories of children watching other children, it was common place. Childhood work laws are not what they are today, and so sending a child to work in the factories, apprenticing them to work on ships, or other trades was the norm.
What was not the norm was the horrid abuse that some of these children went through. Reading through some of the stories and learning that some stood by and did nothing - why!? Was it out of fear, or cowardice? We don't know, and we won't ever know.
As I stated, you are going to want kleenex on this book - but the information it contained was very well done, and documented very well. It was not a hard read in context, but it is hard on the heartstrings.