When Dot McCann, playing relievio with her pals, decides to hide in Butcher Rathbone's almost empty dustbin, she overhears a conversation which could send one man to prison and the other to the gallows - and suddenly finds herself in possession of stolen goods. Dot lives with her aunt and uncle, the cuckoo in the nest, abandoned to these relatives when her parents die. She knows she is unwanted but this teaches her independence so, when she realises one of the thieves suspects her, she has no hesitation in leaving her aunt's home to fend for herself. She tells no one her secret until she meets up with Corky, who has run away from a London orphan asylum. The two join forces and are befriended by Alby, who owns a canal boat. This is fortunate because Dot soon realises they are being followed. This title is set in Liverpool in the 1920s/1930s. "The Cuckoo Child" is vintage Katie Flynn.