The Runaways of Haddington Hall

Vivian French's The Runaways of Haddington Hall is a rollicking boo-hiss adventure for 10 year olds about a washerwoman's daughter packed off for something she didn't do.

What happens

Minnie O'Sullivan helps her Mam take in washing. The huge old mangle is called Uncle Fred (and Minnie is convinced it hates her). One evening she loses her temper, gives the handle an extra twist and tears a gentleman's best shirt.

Being Minnie, she insists on owning up in person. The shirt belongs to the Reverend Obadiah Marpike, a thin, sneering man with ink on his fingers. While she's apologising, she knocks his papers to the floor and spots a map. Mines, rubies, the word "abandoned". She has no idea what she's seen. Obadiah very much does.

So he writes a letter. By the next morning Minnie has been painted as a dangerous criminal and sent to Haddington Hall. It's a damp, gloomy house for "rescued" girls, run by the dreadful Mrs Haddington. There's a dog called Gobbler to stop anyone running away, and wasp-striped uniforms. Mrs Haddington even decides to call Minnie "Mangle".

The grown-up villains are so pompous they're funny, and you'll want to shout at them. Minnie is a brilliant heroine. She's quick-tempered, honest to a fault and never, ever lets a lie about her mam go unanswered. Who doesn't love a girl who answers back when it matters?

She isn't on her own, either. Edith, a sheltered rich girl, joined the charity expecting apple-cheeked orphans and is fast realising something is very wrong. And Enry, the delivery boy in the battered top hat, has decided to keep an eye on Minnie.

There are some hard moments. Obadiah slaps Minnie hard across the face, and Mrs Haddington threatens her with a beating. Minnie's family is poor too, with bedbugs, no coal and Mam quietly going without food so the little ones can eat. None of it is lingered over, and it makes you root for Minnie all the more.

A plucky underdog, wicked grown-ups heading for a fall and a dash of old-fashioned melodrama. If that sounds like your reader, this one's a treat. The chapters swap between Minnie, Edith and the baddies, so you're always one step ahead of the characters.

What to read next

If they fall for Minnie's world of grand villains and hard-up heroes, try Vivian French's The Steam Whistle Theatre Company. A family of travelling actors take the train north to escape their debts, with an aunt who's sure trains are certain death on wheels.