Lullabies for Little Criminals

A gritty, heartbreaking book about wounded innocence on the wild streets of the city—a spectacular debut by a writer of extraordinary skill

With her first book, which is a quietly profound but very powerful tale of a young life on the streets and the fortitude, cunning, and good fortune required to survive, Heather O'Neill dazzles readers.

At thirteen, Baby is torn between the pleasures of childhood and the allure of adulthood. She is still too young to tote her dolls about in a vinyl suitcase, but she is also too mature to be ignorant of the cruelties that exist in the city. Living without a mother, she shares a home with her father, Jules, who tends to his heroin addiction more carefully than he does his daughter. Babies have a wonderful ability to tell tales and treasure the little morsels of joy that fall into their laps. However, a charming and dangerous local pimp who oversees an army of depressed, blindly loyal females has noticed her developing attractiveness. Jules, who is usually unaware of such things, finds herself in the middle of a hazardous scenario. Baby will eventually understand that she is the only one with the ability to save herself when an escape under the appearance of treachery threatens to break her spirit.