<p>Ellie Jacobs has always loved stories about how families managed to survive in Victorian England. In that era there was such a divide between rich and poor; between those who struggled to feed themselves and find shelter so they wouldn't die on freezing, filthy streets and those who were born into a life of privilege.<br/><br/>But this was also the beginning of the industrial age, and while some children suffered shocking conditions working in a factory or a mine for meagre wages, others managed to fight their way out of poverty to some level of comfort in the middle classes. Some did very well.<br/><br/>These are the stories Ellie loves to tell: tales about people who refuse to give up, no matter what life throws at them.</p>
