Doorstep girls

the long version

Ruby and Grace had grown up in the slums of Middle Court, the poorest place in Hull. Friends since childhood, they supported each other in bad times and good. Ruby's ma, Bess, tried hard to be a good mother although addicted to opium, while Grace's parents, Bob and Lizzie, looked after the girl as best they could. The cottom mill provided work for Ruby and Grace, but as times grew harder they were cast off, and each girl had to find her own way of leaving behind the slums they had always known.