Eppie

The feeling of being ‘trapped’ is experienced by many people in the twenty-first century, whether this is being trapped in poverty, bullied by people outside and within the family, or constrained to work in an unsatisfying job. This awareness of being trapped is felt by Eppie, the main character in this story, but also by many of those whom she lives amongst and works beside.

The story begins in 1799, when Wakelin, the young son of a village weaver, steals into Tunnygrave Manor, and exchanges the body of his dead baby sister for the baby girl born to Lady Constance du Quesne. Although she is poor, Eppie adores her ‘family’, who live in a cottage beside a stream. However, this is a turbulent time in England’s history and being trapped in poverty can be a horrendous experience. Thrown out of their cottage by Lord Robert du Quesne, the family are compelled to seek work in a nearby town, where they are constrained to work at a cotton mill for long, arduous hours.

Not only a history story, this novel is rich in fantasy, adventure, intrigue, romance, and a liberal dose of humour. At Christmas time an ice market is held. Eppie enjoys tobogganing, and skates on the frozen mere, ‘the soft, melodic voices of the wassail singers drifting through the darkening skies’ as they sing, ‘God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay.’ Another Christmas, she witnesses the freezing of a haunted waterwheel: ‘The crashing, foaming river glazed over and froze. Crystal spears, like the ice swords of ancient warriors, spiked out from the wooden waterwheel as though thrusting against an unseen enemy. The mill engine halted. The rattling of spinning machines ceased.’

Other phantom elements include a haunted dolls’ house, a ghostly rocking pony and, on a church roof, a gargoyle which springs to life, ‘a spray of water flying from its knotted fringe of thatched hair.’ Eppie also visits a fairground, climbs inside a chimney to rescue a climbing-boy, and encounters bodysnatchers. She witnesses bull-baiting, a boy hung for stealing a silver spoon, and rescues a badger from baiting. A favourite place for Eppie is the secret hollow in an ancient oak. The tree is like the centre of her universe, ‘its weary arms sweeping through the dappled light to heaven, its roots stirred by a breeze in the underworld, the realm of the faerie.’

Throughout the novel we follow Eppie’s fears, her hopes, excitements and disappointments. One of her worst experiences, whilst working at the cotton mill, is discovering that she was stolen from her cradle at the manor house and that Martha, the weaver’s wife, whom she dearly loves, is not, therefore, her true mother. Is it possible for Eppie to throw off the cloak of poverty that surrounds her and become the lady of the manor?