In nineteenth-century Great Britain, Joe Sowerby looks after his strange little sister, Annie, at the workhouse and throughout their escape from an abusive farm placement until he leaves her with a circus to make his way to industrial Manchester. As Annie and Joe walk the Whispering Road, they are helped by a friendly tramp and a mysterious dog-woman. They are finally reunited thanks to a renegade printer working for better conditions for the poor. The book is a fast-paced Dickensian adventure with generous helpings of violence and old-time religion organized tidily into episodes just right for reading aloud. 2006 USBBY-CBC Outstanding International Books List, 2005 Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Shortlist (9–11 years). kti, djg

Originally published by Puffin Great Britain, in 2005.