Fifteen-year old Mia lives with her dad in a small rural community. When she discovers that she's pregnant she doesn't know where to turn - her elder sisters have left home, her mum left when Mia was six, her boyfriend, Will, is too scared to be anyhelp and her dad tries to push her into an abortion. Backed into a corner, she runs away and joins two women on a canal boat. Nobody can find her now but she discovers that the women have their own tragic stories. A fire on the boat makes her realise that she must take responsibility for the baby and herself and that home is the most likely place to get help. Her mother re-enters her life and Will's mother involves herself. Mia learns about love and realises how much her father has done for her.

 

There are 240 pages in this book. This book was published 2003 by Penguin Books Ltd .

Julia Green is the main tutor the MA in Creative Writing for Young People at Bath Spa, and has had three novels published by Puffin. This is her first for Bloomsbury. Julia lives in Bath.