Lullabies for Little Criminals - by Heather O'Neill (Paperback)

About the Book

"Heather O'Neill's first novel is a story of a young life on the streets - and the strength, wits, and luck necessary for survival." "At thirteen, Baby vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation: still young enough to drag her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase yet old enough to know more than she should about urban cruelties. Motherless, she lives with her father, Jules, who takes better care of his heroin habit than he does of his daughter. Baby's gift is a genius for spinning stories and for cherishing the small crumbs of happiness that fall into her lap. But her blossoming beauty has captured the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local pimp who runs an army of sad, slavishly devoted girls - a volatile situation even the normally oblivious Jules cannot ignore. And when an escape disguised as betrayal threatens to crush Baby's spirit, she will ultimately realize that the power of salvation rests in her hands alone."--Jacket.

Book Synopsis

"A beautiful book. . . . There are phrases in here that will make you laugh out loud, and others that will stop your heart. A definite triumph." -- David Rakoff, author of Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish

From Heather O'Neill, the Giller-shortlisted author of Daydreams of Angels and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, a heartbreaking and wholly original novel about a young girl fighting to preserve a bruised innocence on the feral streets of a big city

Baby, all of thirteen years old, is lost in the gangly, coltish moment between childhood and the strange pulls and temptations of the adult world. Her mother is dead; her father Jules is always on the lookout for his next score. Baby knows that "chocolate milk" is Jules' slang for heroin and sees a lot more of that in her house than the real article. But she takes vivid delight in the scrappy bits of happiness and beauty that find their way to her, and moves through the threat of the streets as if she's been choreographed in a dance.

Soon, though, a hazard emerges that is bigger than even her hard-won survival skills can handle. Alphonse, the local pimp, has his eye on her for his new girl; he wants her body and soul--and what the johns don't take he covets for himself. At the same time, a tender and naively passionate friendship unfolds with a boy from her class at school, who has no notion of the dark claims on her--which even her father, lost on the nod, cannot totally ignore. Jules consigns her to a stint in juvie hall, and for the moment this perceived betrayal preserves Baby from terrible harm--but after that, her salvation has to be her own invention.

Channeling the artlessly affecting voice of her thirteen-year-old heroine with extraordinary accuracy and power, O'Neill's dazzles with a novel of extraordinary prescience and power, a subtly understated yet searingly effective story of a young life on the streets--and the strength, wits, and luck necessary for survival.

From the Back Cover

A new deluxe edition of the international bestseller by Heather O'Neill, the Giller-shortlisted author of Daydreams of Angels and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, featuring an original foreword from the author, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the coming-of-age story that People describes as "a vivid portrait of life on skid row."

Baby, all of thirteen years old, is lost in the gangly, coltish moment between childhood and the strange pulls and temptations of the adult world. Her mother is dead; her father, Jules, is scarcely more than a child himself and is always on the lookout for his next score. Baby knows that "chocolate milk" is Jules' slang for heroin and sees a lot more of that in her house than the real article. But she takes vivid delight in the scrappy bits of happiness and beauty that find their way to her, and moves through the threat of the streets as if she's been choreographed in a dance.

Soon, though, a hazard emerges that is bigger than even her hard-won survival skills can handle. Alphonse, the local pimp, has his eye on her for his new girl; he wants her body and soul--and what the johns don't take he covets for himself. At the same time, a tender and naively passionate friendship unfolds with a boy from her class at school, who has no notion of the dark claims on her--which even her father, lost on the nod, cannot totally ignore. Jules consigns her to a stint in juvie hall, and for the moment this perceived betrayal preserves Baby from terrible harm--but after that, her salvation has to be her own invention.

Channeling the artlessly affecting voice of her thirteen-year-old heroine with extraordinary accuracy and power, Heather O'Neill's heartbreaking and wholly original debut novel blew readers away when it was first published ten years ago. Now in a new deluxe package it is sure to capture its next decade of readers as Baby picks her pathway along the edge of the abyss to arrive at a place of redemption, and of love.

Review Quotes

"A beautiful book, all the more remarkable because its harrowing tale is (virtuosically) told without a trace of self-pity or bathos. There are phrases in here that will make you laugh out loud, and others that will stop your heart. A definite triumph." - David Rakoff, author of Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish
"A vivid portrait of life on skid row." - People
"A poignant tale.... O'Neill brings the setting to life." - OK! (five stars)
"A nuanced, endearing coming-of-age novel you won't want to miss." - Quill & Quire (Canada)
"Vivid and poignant.... A deeply moving and troubling novel." - Independent (London)
"O'Neill is a tragicomedienne par excellence.... You will not want to miss this tender depiction of some very mean streets." - Montreal Review of Books
"O'Neill somehow infuses her troubling story with a kind of heartbreaking innocence.... She is a wonderful stylist and the voice she has created for Baby is original and altogether captivating." - Booklist
"A winsome debut novel." - Kirkus
"Baby's precocious introspection feels pitch perfect.... Tear-jerkingly effective." - Publishers Weekly
"Dreamy prose.... Baby's unique voice and the glimmer of hope provided by her intelligence and imaginative spirit live on in the mind long after you have closed the book." - Waterstones Books Quarterly (London)
"A disturbing, heartbreaking novel... redeemed by a powerful voice, vivid characters and gritty realism. This is a stunning book from a first-time author." - RebelHousewife.com