Descriptions The Last Climbing Boy Free Ebook
Tommy Hopkins is a ten-year-old orphan and a Victorian climbing-boy forced to go up into dangerous, dark chimneys with only a small brush and a scraper - often when the flues are still red hot. And he works for a cruel and sadistic master called Old Belter, real name Mr Akroyd.
One night Belter goes too far and savagely beats a new climbing boy. The lad, nicknamed Screecher, is only seven and Tommy comes to his rescue. Becomes a hero. Fed up the cruelty and harsh existence of their lives, Tommy trips Belter up on the cobblestones of the stinking old warehouse where they all sleep and thinks he has killed the man.
Tommy leads a small band of runaways: his best friend Jimmy, Screecher and climbing-girl Lucy, to the arches under Blackfriars Bridge. He promises to take them out of London, away from the rats and the horrible overpowering stink of the River Thames. It is a sacred trust. A blood oath. And Tommy is a lad of his word.
They set off on a bold adventure towards Dover, where Screecher has an aunt living in a house by the sea.
With little food, no shoes and no proper winter clothes, they suffer many hardships. They escape from a charging bull and spend the night in a barn, only to find out in the morning that the farmer has stolen the last of their food. When Tommy confronts the man, the farmer beats him up so badly that he can’t walk and the others carry him part of the way to Dover, until Tommy is finally able to lead them again.
Climbing Boys is not simply a ‘Misery Memoir’ but has a thread of optimism and humour running through it and a sense of comradeship as the gang of friends overcome their difficulties and poverty and still find plenty to laugh about. They are all heroes. But Tommy especially pulls them through and Lucy is an independent and feisty heroine in a time when females are supposed to be decorative and submissive.
, Second Grade Reading Books .
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