The character of Lyddie remains the quintessential "Lowell Factory Girl" of my heart due to this very book. Her story, and her spunky nature, begins to be revealed right away in Chapter 1.
We are introduced to Lyddie deep in the rural areas of Vermont because a bear enters her family's little cabin and wreaks havoc. This bear is Lyddie's first obstacle in life and begins to symbolize the other (bigger?) obstacles she will tackle as she becomes a "Lowell Factory Girl." It is Lyddie, always showing her spunk, who protects her family by "staring the bear down." Unfortunately, the even riles Lyddie's mentally unstable mother enough to make her leave with the babies and leave Lyddie (and eventually her younger brother, Charlie) alone to tend their Vermont farm.
Just as things begin looking up for Lyddie and Charlie (in that they make it through the cold winter months and observer the birth of a calf from their one and only cow), they get a note that their mother has rented the farm to someone else in order to pay debts. Even though their mother also writes that, "We can still hope." All hope seems to have vanished by the end of this chapter.
Now Lyddie must go out in search of hope for herself and her family.
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