Ruby and Grace had grown up in the slums of Middle Court, the poorest place in Hull. Friends since early childhood, they had supported each other in bad times and good. Ruby's ma, Bess, addicted to the opium which dulled the pain of her miserable existence, tried hard to be a good mother, but without too much success, while Grace's parents, Bob and Lizzie, looked after the girl - as well as their own family - as best they could. But the two families were bound together by more than friendship, and secrets from the past threatened to make their hard lives even more difficult.

The local cotton mill had provided work for Ruby and Grace since they were nine years old, but with the decline of the industry they, like many others, were cast off. Both girls found themselves the object of attention from the mill owner's sons, but as times grew harder and money became even scarcer, Grace became involved in a militant campaign against poverty and injustice, while Ruby was tempted into prostitution. Both girls were searching for something which would take them far away from the slums they had always known.

Extracts from THE DOORSTEP GIRLS:
Wincomlee and Cleveland Street, the streets which ran on either side of the river Hull were thronging with hundreds of workers making their way home. Factories, tinworks, cotton and seed mills, all spewed forth a crush of humanity from their gates, tipping them out in much the same way as the machines on which they had been working had tipped out an end product of machine parts, metal sheets, cotton, or oil.
Some of the women, and more especially the children, seemed to have little energy in which to drag themselves back to the place from where they had started that morning. The sun was just up as they had set out and was just going down as they returned, and for most of them that was the only glimpse of the summer that they would have, except perhaps on a Sunday, when they didn't work and could choose whether to spend their weary day in bed, or clean their dwelling rooms, or if they were so inclined, could do their washing so that they might have a clean garment of clothing for the following week.
Many of the men spent their Sundays in the company of the innkeepers, for on a Saturday they received their meagre salary, and some, if their womenfolk were not lying in wait for them by the factory gate, would divert from their normal way home and take another route towards the alehouse, and not go home at all that night.
But there were also others who would count out their wages, reckon the rent and the cost of candles or coal and a bowl of soup and bread for wives and children, and know with a despairing certainty that the numbers didn't add up.
'I didn't tell you, did I, Grace - about Freddie?'
'What about him?' Grace didn't look up at Ruby as they trudged away from the cotton mill, for she was concentrating on her feet. The sole of her left boot had worn through and she could feel the rough ground scraping the ball of her foot. She hoped that her mother hadn't thrown away the piece of cardboard that she had found. She would mend the boot just as soon as she arrived home.
'Ma's sold him to 'chimney sweep. Got ten bob, all found.'
'What?' Grace hadn't really been listening. 'What did you say?'
'Ma. She got ten shillings for Freddie. He's apprenticed to chimney sweep.'
Grace stopped suddenly and was roughly barged into by someone in the crowd behind her. 'They paid her?' she said incredulously and winced as the person behind trod on her heel. 'But what does it mean?'
'It means he can't come home. 'Sweep owns him. He teaches him his trade and feeds him and everything.' She took a deep breath and said in a choked voice, 'I've been thinking about him all day, wondering if he's all right. We ate supper last night with 'money we got for him. He's onny eight, poor bairn, but chap who took him said he was old enough to be a sweep's lad.' She rubbed her eyes and stuttered. 'Ma cried in bed last night, first time I've ever heard her do that. She said she did it for him, so's he'd have a trade.'

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'Do you want to come, Ruby? I'm going to Dock Green with my da.'
'For what?' Ruby was crouched by the low fire with her shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her mother was sitting on the mattress with her arms across her chest and her hands tucked under her armpits. She was shivering and rocking, her head and shoulders moving backwards and forwards.
'I'm going to listen to 'speakers.'
'There'll be nobody there. It's raining - and it's cold! No thanks, I'll stop here by 'fire.' She glanced at her mother. Besides, I have to keep an eye on Ma,' she said in a low voice. 'She'd not had any loddy for a couple o' days and I bought her some yesterday when I got my wages. She took it straight away instead of waiting till this morning and has been awake all night, jigging and dancing and talking all sorts of nonsense. Now, she's suffering for it.'
'Oh I am suffering!' Bessie heard Ruby's last few words. 'Nobody knows how I suffer. Such pain in the head and belly, ' she groaned. 'Too much spirit in it. You should have got me raw Turkish, Ruby, that's 'best you can buy.'
Ruby gave a snort, 'We don't have money for Turkish, Ma!. It's eight pounds a pound! When did you last have any of that?' She turned to Grace, misery etching lines on her face. 'I'm sick of this, Grace. I'm at my wits end.'
'What's your ma talking about?' Grace frowned. 'I thought 'laudanum made her feel better.'
Ruby sighed. 'It does for a bit, but 'loddy that you buy from 'grocer is mixed with spirit, so you can get drunk on it. And she didn't take just a spoonful but drank it straight out of 'bottle.'
'I'm sorry, Ruby,' Grace said. 'So you won't come?'
Ruby shook her head. 'No. You go, and see who's putting 'world to rights.' She gave a wry smile, 'And if they've got any answers, send 'em to me!'
'Poor Ruby.' Grace told her father about Bessie as they walked down the road towards the town. 'Do you think her ma will ever be cured of taking opium?'
Her father glanced down at her. 'No, 'course she won't. If she stops taking it she'll see 'world as it really is and she won't like it.'
'It's hard for Ruby though. They could spend that loddy money on food.'
'Aye, it's hard on 'lass, I agree, but Bessie takes it to forget. Life seems better and brighter when you eat a grain of opium.'
She looked up in astonishment. 'Does it? How do you know? Have you taken it, Da?'