Michael O'Halloran is a pert and wiry newspaper boy left with no parents and no money. He has a tiny room and earns just enough money to pay for his rent and food, and to save a little. But when he comes across a small crippled girl with no one to care for her and a terror of the workhouse he cannot resist taking her in and looking after her.

A novel about the relationships between children and adults, and the new Australian multicultural middle-class. From the controversial cult author of 'Loaded' and 'Dead Europe'.