They’re called ‘freaks’ because they’re unusual and look unusual.  The main character is Sheba, who doesn’t have any family and grew up in a shanty on a rambleshack pier not far from London in the 1850’s.  She is sold to Mr. Plumpscutte, the proprietor of a traveling carny or freak show.  Sheba’s unusualness is that she has hair all over her body, including hands and face.  The older she gets the more she looks like a wolf-girl and is able to channel the snarling and gnashing teeth of a real wolf.  Other freaks in the show include Monkeyboy, self explanatory, Mama Rat and her trained rats, Gigantus, again self explanatory, and Sister Moon, an Asian girl with awesome Ninja skills.  This is the first ‘family’ that Sheba has known.  She is only required to sit and have paying customers come and stare at her.  One such customer was a small eight-year-old girl, stinky and filthy, who was fascinated but not frightened by Sheba.  The girl, Till, gave Sheba a broken marble, but it was the first thing anyone had ever given her and she was touched by the friendship.  Shortly afterwards, Sheba learns that Till has disappeared, as have other poor children who work along the riverfront.  Sheba and her ‘family’ set out to find her and the others, even as it becomes apparent that the people responsible for the missing children are willing to kill to keep their secret.  Larwood does an excellent job with characterization as well as the setting.  I actually thought I was beginning to smell the river’s waste.  The action is exciting as Sheba and her friends close in on the villains.  A well-rounded debut novel.