Lola and her brother Ami go from being upper middle class India citizens to "street rats" in the blink of an eye due to a chain of unfortunate circumstances beyond their control. Their mother is dead. Their housekeeper has left to have a baby and a replacement hasn't arrived. Their father goes off to another district just when there are wild floods, and then doesn't come home. Because the father has cut himself off from the rest of his family, the children have no-one to turn to. The rent doesn't get paid and after 10 days, the landlord evicts them and they are tossed onto the street with just a small bag of clothes.
Lola decides to go to the train station to blend in and then keep coming back to the house in case her father returns but their bags are stolen and then Amit, her brother , disappears...
Gripping tale of the slums of India and how children survive. The Prostitution element is not explicitly alluded to although there is some violence and crime mentioned so it is suitable for younger readers with very easy to follow language. Spoiler Alert : There is a happy ending ( of sorts). ( )