The Girls at Mount Morris

Lilian Boyd is nearly sixteen and hopes to become a teacher, but her mother’s poor health and dwindling savings threaten to end her schooling. Ready to take factory work to support them both, she receives unexpected hope through a letter from Mrs. Searing. A position as seamstress at Mrs. Barrington’s school could provide her mother with work while allowing Lilian to continue her studies and help supervise younger pupils.

Amanda M. Douglas builds this novel for young readers around education, family duty and the cost of having ambitions beyond one’s circumstances. The opening follows Lilian through a modest home where sewing pays the bills and every decision affects two lives. A later conversation about the Crawford family and a railway disaster adds questions of identity and belonging. Readers interested in school stories and family secrets will find both practical worries about earning a living and the emotional pull of finding a home.