A Pickpockets Tale - Summarizer

Gemma Thornley
A Pickpockets Tale
Read until page 86
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Literary Luminary

Group members;
Sarah
Shelly
Yoonji

During the last rotation, I started reading the novel, A Pickpockets Tale, by Karen Schwabach.  It follows the story of a 10-year-old girl, Miriam Abraham, known as Molly.
Molly grew up in London, living off the streets. Her mother died when she was only a child, and her father was never part of her life. Poor and orphaned, she needed to survive, then taking to pickpocketing. Life of the streets was dangerous, but she had a thief's touch and was never caught by Londons old and decaying police force. This is how she lived most of her childhood,
Then, at the age of 10, she was ratted out. Molly didn't quite know WHO ratted her out. She was put on trial, found guilty of theft, and sentenced to be sent to America, the new country. IT seemed like the most terrible punishment imaginable, as there were always horror stories about America. It was a land full of salvages, monsters without heads, as well as tigers and lions and possibly even dragons. Molly doubted dragons though. It seemed a bit much.
The crossing to America was one of extreme difficulty. She was in the crammed hold of a boat, filled with other convicts, murderers and theives alike. The boat was covered in dead bugs galore, crammed with sweaty people in uncomfortable positions. Once the boat left London, the convicts embarked on a month long jouney, with no concpet of time or any notion of the outside world. The seasons were changing, life was happening, and all they could see was the inside of the boat and the sea. Many were planning their plots of how to return back to England after arriving in America. There were stories of what would happen if you returned to England (all centered around hanging) but it was nothing compared to the terror of arriving in America.
Upon arrival, the convicts were put up for sale as slaves, all for a duration of seven years plus, as their punishment. Hesper (Molly's enemy) and Molly are haggled over, being both young girls, who would seem ideal slaves.
Molly is finally sold to a Jewish family (the Bell family) who were sent to collect her as a fellow Jew. Molly knew she was Jewish, as her mother told her that Jews would keep her safe as a Jew, but Molly never fully comprehended what this meant.
The family takes her home, and tries to force her to have a bath. Molly has never bathed before and believes that the experience will kill her. She runs around, causing complete havoc around the house, much to the hilarity of the young daughter of the family, Rachel. Molly spends her first day in this foreign land terrified of the strange and seemingly dangerous traditions that they are surrounded by. Their mannerisms and language are completely new to her, although these people, the Bell family, claim to originate from England, as did she, they seem entirely different her. The first 24 hours is one filled with utter confusion.

Thanks for reading :)