Based on a true story, When I Grow Rich, Say the Bells at Shoreditch is a profoundly moving portrait of a working-class mother’s endurance, love, and sacrifice in turn-of-the-century London.

Born in Shoreditch in 1866, Rosa Marie Twitchett grew up in the shadow of the Industrial Revolution, where coal smoke, illness, and poverty shaped the lives of East London’s poor. Raised by a resilient father and haunted by her mother`s early death in an asylum, Rosa is no stranger to hardship. As she comes of age, she finds brief moments of love and companionship, only to lose them to drink, disease, or circumstance.

By 1904, Rosa is a widow in all but name, raising four children alone in a cramped tenement. With no financial support or legal standing, she turns to one of the few institutions available to the destitute: Dr. Barnardo’s Homes. There, she is faced with an agonizing decision—give up her sons in the hope that they might be fed, educated, and spared the life of struggle she cannot shield them from.

This story is not about queens or suffragettes or empires won and lost. It is about the women who scrubbed floors, stitched hems, and endured. It is about the ache of parting, the grit of survival, and the love that outlives separation. Through Rosa’s eyes, we see the invisible cost of poverty—and the fierce, unyielding heart of a mother determined to give her children more than the world ever gave her.

With extensive historical detail and quiet emotional force, When I Grow Rich, Say the Bells at Shoreditch shines a light on a forgotten corner of British history and offers a tribute to those who endured

Katie Murphy