It is 1901 in America, and 14-year-old Mable has different ideas than her more conservative schoolteacher sister Viola (Miss Riley to her while they are in the one-room schoolhouse). Viola makes her best effort to keep her wild sister under control. She forbids her to speak about certain matters and associate with known troublemakers. 

Mable strikes up a friendship with eccentric Mrs. Rattle, whom she is intrigued by. Their love of literature binds them. Mable whiles away the hours creating a fantastical adventure novel whose heroine is named Helena, and Mrs. Rattle is a former journalist. 

Unable to find more suitable work for herself, Mable's friend accepts a job in a cheese factory. The work in the factory is exhausting, and the conditions are worse than expected. The lady organizes the workers to demand better conditions. A strike turns ugly, and Mrs. Rattle is at the center of it. Factory owner Mr. Forrest denounces Mrs. Rattle as an ungrateful employee.  

Mrs. Rattle admires Mable's questioning mind.

Mable Riley by Marthe Jocelyn, 2011

I like the diary format of the book. I also love the quaint simplicity at the turn of the 20th Century, and the horse-drawn carriages. The paper of the book is ruffled on one side, perhaps as it would have been in the early 1900s.

• Marthe Jocelyn's web site
• Books about factories
• Books about labor unions