The One I Knew the Best of All - A Memory of the Mind of a Child

Book excerpt: FULLY ILLUSTRATED. The One I Knew the Best of All traces the early life of Frances Hodgson Burnett. In it she relates her earliest memories as a child in a North Manchester middle-class home and, following her father's death, in Salford. Although a well-behaved little girl she relates her fascination with "back street" children and their language - the Lancashire dialect - which she sets out to learn. At the same time she provides a vivid description of the differences in the lives of those who laboured to produce Lancashire's wealth and those who took possession of it. Finally she deals with the American Civil War - the consequent Lancashire Cotton Famine - its devastating effects - her family's impoverishment and subsequent flight across the Atlantic. Here, in Tennessee, they make a new life, and Frances is forced to examine ways they can make a living. A brilliant, entertaining and thought provoking read. Published in support of The Working Class Movement Library, Salford, M5 4WX.