Viaduct Child

Dushma is unregistered, something she's lived with for as long as she can remember. It means she isn't real, she counts for nothing. She can't go to school, or a hospital, or travel on public transport. She spends her days exploring London: backstreets, alleys, churches - and particularly the cathedral. It fascinates her, filled with shadowed corners and intriguing stories. Dushma has a story of her own, but it's one she doesn't know. For now she has the security of her home in the viaduct, and the dangerous charity of Auntie Megan, her only guardian. Wandering among the grim concrete pillars of a multi-storey car park, Dushma finds another misfit. Alison seems to be her opposite, a knowing rebel, full of dazzling stories of the life that Dushma is excluded from. Safe up in the viaduct, Alison's tales of adventure seem unreal. But circumstances can change with frightening speed.