Charley Feather

In mid-18th Century England, now 14 year old highway robber Charley was born an orphan in Southwark, London, and learned to survive the hard way; having seen a succession of casual 'guardians' thrown in to jail or shipped off to the colonies or dying of typhoid. By the time she is ten years old, Charley has waved goodbye to the latest, pickpocket mother and decided to don shirt and breeches and look after herself from now on; a much easier job if she is disguised as a boy (a fact the reader only realises a chapter in). So Charley goes it alone. At the age of twelve, he/she is part of a notorious highway robber's gang run by the ruthless Jack Wild. Travelling with the gang all across England, Charley has already gained herself the plucky nickname of Charley Feather - because of her feather-light touch when picking pockets, and the dashing white ostrich feather she boldly sticks into her three-cornered hat. But when Jack Wild is cornered and captured by a rival gang in York, his own gang scatters; Charley f