Since the second book in my Time Rose series has my young time travellers visiting Victorian times, my next few posts will have connections to the Victorian era.
The first is about mudlarks. London’s River Thames is a tidal river. Many objects can be found in the mud left behind when the waters recede each day. Modern mudlarks use metal detectors to find items of monetary or archaeological value, but in Victorian times, mudlarks like my characters, Hetty and Pip, had to wade in and grub about with sticks to locate the coal, wood, bones, nails, and rope that they sold on for the pittance that would put food in their mouths. Child mudlarks led hard and dangerous lives. Digging about in mud mixed with excrement and industrial waste left undernourished waifs open to disease and infection. Not all of them grew up, and those that did had few career options before them. Considered the lowest of the low by most members of society, it was expected they would eventually become thieves and prostitutes, and sadly, they often did.
