January 1905

The winter has been a tough one for Pauline and Arlene's family. Though only eleven, the twin girls are old in too many ways: They know what it is to work to exhaustion, to be hamstrung by longing, and to be blind with hate.

Pauline labors from dawn to dusk alongside the other members of her family at the local cotton mill, and she wishes she could stay home like her twin. Meanwhile, crippled Arlene tends to all the housework while dreaming of one day working at the mill and earning money and respect. Each is certain the other has the easy life--but each discovers how wrong she is as this extraordinary debut novel unfolds.