The Caseroom

In The Caseroom, Edinburgh is at the heart of Britain’s print industry and St Leonards and Canonmills ring with the clamour of print works. Determined to follow her father and older brothers into the print trade, Iza Ross enters the caseroom of Ballantynes’ Pauls works in Causewayside as a callow thirteen-year old.Set against the backdrop of Edinburgh’s thriving print industry in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, Iza enters the ranks as one of around 800 women, who for the first time have been allowed to join the work force as typesetters: a male-dominated trade which stands resistant to the changes in the industry.Caught between the misogyny of the print trade and the pressure to join the We-Women movement at the risk of losing her job, Iza persists in her work that allows her to feed her imagination on books. As her life becomes further embroiled in bitter labour disputes, Iza must examine her loyalties, since keeping her job means having to harden herself to the needs of those she loves.