Roxy was shaking with fear. She drew in a deep breath. She would not let her fear take over. She couldn't. She had too much to lose. She had to be strong, to be brave. For once in her life she had to think of someone other than herself. Roxy is wild, uncontrollable. She hates her parents - and her goody-two-shoes sister. Her only solace is her equally wild friends, Pat, Tracey and Jacqueline. Then there is the night of the party, where she lets that boy kiss her, and more ...and Roxy is pregnant. Wilfully, she won't tell her mother, her family. She decides to run away to London. And in London Roxy is found by Mr and Mrs Dyce. They are understanding, sympathetic, and promise her a way out of her troubles. They will take her to a comfortable place, along with other girls in the same position and look after her and her baby - which is exactly what happens. Roxy cannot believe her luck. But Roxy eventually works out the dark truth of the outwardly genial Dyces. They are 'farming' the babies in a truly horrible way, and selling the baby organs. There is only one dramatic way out for Roxy - and it's dangerous. But she is dealing with dangerous people and she has to take it. And now she has her baby to look after. A gripping and completely compelling story of a girl forced to grow up and think of others other than herself in the most nightmare of circumstances. These circumstances would seem too horrible to be true - were they not based on fact. A network doing exactly this was discovered to be operating in Italy in 2003, causing outcry, and has formed the basis for this story.

 

 

There are 272 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2009 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC .

Catherine MacPhail is an award-winning author with an excellent reputation in schools and bookshops. Her other Barrington Stoke books are Picking on Percy, Sticks and Stones and A Kind of Magic. She lives in Greenock.