based on a true story

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/hc46.htm

A very different book based on a true story. During the turn of the 20th Century, troops of children would travel the world singing and performing shows dressed as adults. This is the story of one such tour that ended in disaster and scandal. Thirteen year old Poesy Swift is thrilled to audition and be selected to be part of the Lilliputian's theatre tour of Asia. She will be away from her family for up to 2 years but the pay is significant and will help her family make ends meet. The other main character is 15 year old Tilly Sweetrick who has been with the company in previous years and knows everything that is happening.
This is a story about what happens when adolescents are not given proper parental care and education and instead become cogs in an industry to make money. Instead of having guidance through the emotional changes Poesy experiences as she turns from a naive little girl into a young woman, she is left to guess what is really happening behind the scenes and her innocence is her undoing. For example, one of the 18 year old performers is sleeping with the married director, and the director is not paying the child's chaperone or his stage hands, etc. etc. It all ends up in a rather messy court case held in India.
Bit of a different look at history for older readers due to the "Coming of Age" of the main characters -i.e. groped by old men like benefactors of the tour and courted by "stage door Johnnys" that only want one thing. ( )