Arthur walks along­side his father through the dense fog that envelops Lon­don in 1853, the cold mist cast­ing an eerie silence over the city. The air is thick with pol­lu­tion, and the streets are filled with a sense of decay as they nav­i­gate their way through the city. Arthur’s father, once a source of guid­ance and warmth, has become dis­tant and harsh, the weight of their finan­cial strug­gles trans­form­ing his per­son­al­i­ty. At just thir­teen years old, Arthur has been forced to grow up quick­ly, tak­ing on menial tasks to sup­port the family—tasks that most chil­dren would nev­er dream of. He scav­enges, col­lects manure for sale, trades old clothes, and even dives into filthy waters to gath­er leech­es. Despite his mother’s efforts to work as much as pos­si­ble, the fam­i­ly remains entrenched in pover­ty, and Arthur feels the bur­den of respon­si­bil­i­ty for his younger sib­lings weigh­ing heav­i­ly on his shoul­ders.

Arthur’s long­ing for a return to his school life, with its struc­ture and pre­dictabil­i­ty, feels dis­tant now. The real­i­ties of life in Lon­don demand far more from him than the com­fort of edu­ca­tion or youth. He is keen­ly aware of the suf­fer­ing around him, with many of his peers endur­ing sim­i­lar hard­ships, work­ing dan­ger­ous jobs just to make a liv­ing. His expe­ri­ences with his father’s frus­tra­tion over their sit­u­a­tion only serve to deep­en his sense of iso­la­tion and con­fu­sion. The harsh words and actions from his father fuel a grow­ing sense of rebel­lion with­in him, but at the same time, Arthur is deter­mined to do what it takes to help his fam­i­ly. The appren­tice­ship his father seeks for him seems like an oppor­tu­ni­ty, but Arthur’s ques­tions about it are met with harsh respons­es, and his curios­i­ty is quick­ly sti­fled. As they walk through the fog­gy streets, Arthur won­ders about the nature of the work ahead, though his father does not offer any real answers.

Their jour­ney takes them into the heart of St Giles, a neigh­bor­hood infa­mous for its crime, vice, and squalor. It is a place where the dark­ness of the city’s under­bel­ly is laid bare, and as they walk through it, Arthur feels an over­whelm­ing sense of shame. His father’s cold­ness towards a des­per­ate pros­ti­tute they encounter leaves a last­ing impres­sion on him, high­light­ing the harsh­ness of the world they live in and his father’s inabil­i­ty to show empa­thy. This encounter only inten­si­fies Arthur’s sense of injus­tice and fuels his desire for a bet­ter life. Their arrival at Brad­bury & Evans, a well-estab­lished pub­lish­ing house, brings a glim­mer of hope to Arthur. His father attempts to use a con­nec­tion with a local chemist to secure a job for Arthur, but the pub­lish­ers inform them that no posi­tions are avail­able. In a moment of des­per­a­tion, Arthur’s father insists that his son is a “genius” and pleads for an oppor­tu­ni­ty to prove him­self. Intrigued, the pub­lish­ers decide to test Arthur’s abil­i­ties, chal­leng­ing him to recall dates from the past. Arthur’s impres­sive mem­o­ry catch­es their atten­tion, though the mem­o­ries he recalls bring up emo­tions he would rather not con­front.

Even­tu­al­ly, Brad­bury & Evans agrees to take Arthur on as an appren­tice, offer­ing him the chance to prove him­self over a week-long tri­al. Arthur is both excit­ed and ner­vous, know­ing that this could be the oppor­tu­ni­ty that changes his life. The chance to work in the world of print­ing and pub­lish­ing sparks some­thing with­in him, a new­found pas­sion for lit­er­a­ture and learn­ing. Arthur’s curios­i­ty about the world of pub­lish­ing is ignit­ed, and he sees this as a path to escape the pover­ty and strug­gles that have defined his ear­ly life. The excite­ment of this oppor­tu­ni­ty is tem­pered by the harsh real­i­ties of his sit­u­a­tion, but Arthur is deter­mined to embrace this chance with every­thing he has. The hope of build­ing a bet­ter life for him­self, fueled by his love for knowl­edge, begins to shine through as he steps into this new chap­ter. He is now on a jour­ney that will not only trans­form his life but also shape his future, as he learns to nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of the world he has always been exclud­ed from.