Pick-Pocket

Thirteen-year-old Alice Truelove can’t take another day of her father’s cruelty. Better a life on the streets than being constantly blamed for her mother’s sad death, or that’s what Alice thinks as she packs up her meagre possessions. But fending for herself in the Black Country town of Wednesbury is not as easy as she expected, and it soon hits her that without help she will quickly be hungry and cold.

When thirteen-year-old Bertram Jordan is arrested and sent to a penal colony in Australia, his biggest regret is leaving behind his friend Alice Truelove. The children were each other’s comfort when they had to live rough on Wednesbury heath, surviving on whatever meagre funds they could pilfer from passing market-goers. Now they must face their futures alone.

Abandoned, penniless and orphaned as young children, Bertram and Alice saved each other from a terrible fate. For seven long years they have been kept apart, Bertram, BJ to his friends, learning how to survive and then thrive in the penal colonies of Australia, and Alice growing her prosperous chain of bakeries in the Black Country town of Wednesbury. Now BJ’s sentence is nearly up and he has a choice to make. Queen Victoria’s England has changed since he’s been away and so has Alice. Should he leave behind the life he’s built and face the terrifying, months-long voyage back home?