415 pages: fine. When 15-year-old Cissie Brodie loses her parents to cholera, she is forced out of the family cottage and left to raise her 9 siblings alone. Although desperately poor, the strong-willed Cissie determines to build a new home for the Brodies. It is only a rough stone shelter, but to Cissie and her family it is enough to keep them from the workhouse.