A story of a young girl sent out to steal for her parents. A remarkable, frightening novel from an author who lived it herself. From her parents' 1970s tenement council flat ten-year-old Robyn soon becomes so skilled at shoplifting her reputation spreads. She takes her punishment at school but is much more scared of the vicious threats of her father; and as frightened for her mother's safety as for her own. Her fun-loving grandmother offers her comfort, wisdom and hope that Robyn might be different from her parents. But as her father's random cruelty intensifies, she has to seek refuge in her nan's flat and in the homes of friends, even joining her mother in a women's shelter to escape her 'father'. All this time she is learning more about the unpredictable ways of the people around her and her own potential. She'll need all of this precocious wisdom and the assistance of Nan, to face up once and for all to the twisted violence in her home and engineer a way out of this childhood to reach a place of safety and freedom. This moving story is told in a wonderfully vivid child's voice - her resourcefulness and courage will break your heart.