The Runaway Girls
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3.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Brought to you by Penguin.
The must-have new Victorian novel from bestselling, much-loved children's author, Jacqueline Wilson.
Victorian London, 1851. Queen Victoria is on the throne and the Great Exhibition is about to open!
Lucy Locket lives with her father, the New Mother and the New Baby. They sent away her beloved Nurse and replaced her with a horrid governess. Lucy desperately wants someone to be kind to her, and to have some fun - there's very little of that in her house.
Kitty Fisher is a street performer who earns tin for her supper by tumbling. She has always lived on the street and on her wits, with only the kind Gaffer to help her. But now Gaffer is gone, and Kitty is all alone.
When Lucy runs away from home, Kitty shows Lucy how to survive - where to find the best picnic leftovers in the park, and which trees makes the best beds. Lucy learns quickly and shows Kitty her own skills - befriending families to get free meals and singing beautiful melodies for the crowds.
But the streets of Victorian London are dangerous and soon the girls find themselves under threat from thieves - and even worse, the Workhouse!
"The narrator really brings the characters alive, you have an image in your head if you've already read the story but the characters are so much more alive in your mind with the audiobook. Highly recommended." - NetGalley reviewer
© Jacqueline Wilson 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Anyone who grew up with Jacqueline Wilson’s unforgettable books, from Tracy Beaker to The Bed and Breakfast Star, will find 2021’s The Runaway Girls a heavily nostalgic affair. Wilson’s younger readers, of course, will find it just as charming. The novel—narrated by British actor Mandeep Dhillon—is set in Victorian-era London and introduces us to Lucy, a young girl who, despite all that her wealthy family is able to offer, is desperately unhappy. Her father has remarried a woman nicknamed throughout the novel as “New Mother” (Lucy’s own mother died when she was little), they’ve had a new baby girl together (her father assures her he loves them equally, until an accident that leaves a doll destroyed) and Lucy’s beloved nurse has been replaced with Mrs Groan—a strict governess who bears little of the warmth of her former nurse. Left feeling increasingly isolated and unloved, Lucy makes a break for it when she thinks she sees her beloved nurse walk by. When that turns out to have been a case of mistaken identity, Lucy takes to the streets and meets Kitty, a street girl who takes her under her wing, then learns a thing or two from Lucy in return. The Runaway Girls is a gorgeous tale of coming together despite our differences—and a reminder that true sisterhood can be found in the least expected places.
