''The Runaways'' is a

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

author Ruth Thomas, published by Hutchinson in 1987. It features eleven-year-old Julia and Nathan who find "an enormous sum of money", do not report it, and flee the city when they are threatened with punishment. Opening in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

where Thomas was a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

teacher, the story moves to places including

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and

Exmoor Exmoor is loosely defined as an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England. It is named after the River Exe, the source of which is situated in the centre of the area, two miles north-west of Simonsbath. ...

. Thomas and ''The Runaways'' won the

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. It drew critical acclaim, with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' declaring it "A first rate novel". Lippincott published the first U.S. edition in 1989."The runaways"
(first U.S. edition). Library of Congress Catalog Record. Retrieved 2012-08-04.

References

External links

* —immediately, a record for the first edition * —immediately, first US edition British children's novels Guardian Children's Fiction Prize-winning works Novels set in London Novels by Ruth Thomas 1987 British novels 1987 children's books Hutchinson (publisher) books {{1980s-child-novel-stub