What's it all about?
Eleven-year-old Olivia has just moved into her sixteenth placement home, having grown-up in the care system. She is clearly a troubled child, damaged by the abuse she suffered at the hands of her own mother, and by her experiences of being 'given up on' by everyone who has looked after her so far. Nicholls uses her first person narration to weave several narrative threads together into one compelling storyline: flashbacks of Olivia's relationship with her mum, a history of her foster carers, and the present-day story of her latest home. This home is a secluded farm house that she shares with Jim, his own two children, an older fostered girl and her baby daughter. Oh, and the ghost of a notorious Victorian murderess.
