Winner of the prestigious Guardian Children's Fiction Award in 1988, this book is the compelling and unique story of two children, Julian and Nathan, from inner city London. Outsiders at school and unhappy at home, the two are strangely drawn together. They stumble across some money with which they try to buy friendship in their class, but with teachers and parents closing Winner of the prestigious Guardian Children's Fiction Award in 1988, this book is the compelling and unique story of two children, Julian and Nathan, from inner city London. Outsiders at school and unhappy at home, the two are strangely drawn together. They stumble across some money with which they try to buy friendship in their class, but with teachers and parents closing in the two are forced to run away. The story centres on the brilliant and unusual friendship that develops between these two children, thrown together by force of circumstance. A hard-hitting, well-crafted story of great emotional range that has an important message about personal growth and friendship, this novel is suitable for strong readers between the ages of 10 and 12.