Roxy's Baby

Roxy is rebellious, selfish, resentful of her perfect sister and unable to come to terms with her negative feelings. She escapes into the company of friends she knows her mother won't approve of and on one drunken night she becomes pregnant. Her flight to London perfectly epitomises the confusion and intensity of her feelings. She longs for the comfort and reassurance of home and family but is too impetuous in her negative assessment of her mother's reaction to her problem. When she arrives in the capital exhausted, distressed and vulnerable, she is an easy target for the evil Mr and Mrs Dyce who seem to offer compassion and security to pregnant girls but who simply allow the girls to give birth, kill the babies to harvest their organs and send their mothers out on the streets to repeat the entire process. This book has its origins in a true story and it is this fact, combined with the gathering momentum of the narrative which holds the reader in thrall. The girls are given plausible identities, the setting is luxurious and claustrophobic by turn and the pace of events is governed by Roxy's rising panic and despair. This is a fable for our time, a grim reminder of the dehumanising effect of greed and an indictment of a society which allows its most vulnerable members to vanish with only a sigh of relief.