The Grasshopper's Child

The face and the hand, disembodied, stayed there motionless: longer than Heidi thought she could bear. She could have heard their owner breathing, if he breathed at all. Then they withdrew, disappeared, and the footsteps sank down into the pit again. Heidi sat up, staring into the dark, her hands pressed to her mouth so hard it hurt.

What'll I do? she thought. What'll I do if he comes back?

Nowhere is safe.
There is no protection

Heidi's sweet, feckless father was deep in debt when he got murdered. Now she's an Indentured Teen, a modern slave, and it's totally legal in this future England. Her owners are a weird old pair of crazies, she sleeps in a freezing attic, and still has to turn up for Learning Sessions with the other Mehilhoc Exempt Teens: who obviously know the whole shameful story. But that's okay. She has the Police Inspector's phone number, and the memory of his words: 'if you recall anything, anything at all, please get in touch...' Somehow, someway, stuck out in the deepest sticks, she's going to prove that her Mum didn't kill her Dad.
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The Grasshopper's Child is an old-fashioned futuristic thriller, set in the same Post-Dissolution Crisis England as the legendary Bold As Love series, about young people taking the law into their own hands, and the savagery that hides behind wealth and power: full of odd characters, atrocious secrets, lost illusions and true friends. And gardening tips.

Gwyneth Jones has an impressive track record in award winning science fiction and fantasy, and also writes for teenagers as Ann Halam (Siberia, Dr Franklin's Island, The Shadow On The Stairs)

'Combines the satisfying unmasking closure of a good Scooby-Doo episode, with Gwyneth Jones' fiery rage against the Establishment and its occult workings. But be prepared: like Heidi, you will want to go back and learn your history as well as explore this gorgeous secret garden of a book.'
Sophie Mayer, forbookssake