Invisible Thread
By (Author) Maree Giles
Little, Brown Book Group
Virago Press Ltd
28th January 2014
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
823.914
Paperback
320
Width 160mm, Height 198mm, Spine 22mm
232g
Fourteen-year-old Ellen Russell runs away from home, from her nagging mother and mean stepfather, and goes and lives with her boyfriend, Robbie. Robbie is mean too, but it's still more fun than home. Things seem better until Ellen is arrested for running away and, considered to be in 'moral danger', is sentenced to a period in a reform school.
Ellen, left by her mother to suffer at the Training School for Girls, soon discovers she is pregnant and for this disgrace the staff make her life even more miserable - her only escape is her dreams and writing poetry. When the baby is born it is taken away against Ellen's will.Once released from the school Ellen, drawn by the invisible thread that links a mother to her child, attempts with the help of Frank, a disillusioned doctor, to find the baby she was forced to give up. Instead she uncovers an illegal conspiracy in which babies, taken from people like her (Breeders) are sold to couples wanting to adopt. . .Maree Giles is Australian and has had a variety of careers including journalism and editor for PARENTS Magazine. She was winner of the SHE magazine short story competition in 1997 and in 1998 her short stories were highly commended in the Ian St James Awards.