Edward Bumpus has been pushed from the security of old New England respectability into the grinding uncertainty of mill-town Hampton. Once rooted in the village of Dolton, he now works as a gatekeeper at the Chippering Mill, bewildered by industrial change, class upheaval, and the immigrant city around him. Unable to master the modern world that has displaced him, he clings to genealogy and the Bumpus family line as a last source of dignity, while his wife Hannah fights to keep the household together through thrift, duty, and hardening bitterness. Their cramped life shapes their daughters in different ways. Lise escapes into fantasies of glamour, celebrities, dance halls, and romance, while Janet feels a deeper hunger for beauty, freedom, and a life beyond poverty and factory whistles. As she moves through Hampton's noisy streets, mills, and laboring neighborhoods, Janet becomes increasingly aware of her own inner life and the oppressive power of work. Her secret relationship with Ditmar brings desire, suspicion, and self-respect into conflict, creating a tense portrait of love, class pressure, and the struggle to hold on to independence. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.