Thief! is a novel written by Malorie Blackman in 1995.
It follows the life of 12 year old Lydia Henson, who has just moved to Tarwich, Yorkshire. She is desperate to make friends, having only made one friend, a girl named Frankie Whedon. Though she and Frankie have become best friends, she is desperate to belong. Frankie is part of a Clique called the Cosmics, led by Anne Turner. When Anne offers a place in the Cosmics to Lydia, she jumps at the chance. But in order for Lydia to join the Cosmics, she must pass the initiation test. She must steal the schools prize sports cup if she wants to belong. Though Lydia is desperate to belong, she cannot bring herself to do it as she knows if she gets caught her parents will be angry. But then somehow, the Cup is found in her locker anyway. Lydia knows she didn’t do it, but her classmates and teachers don’t believe her.
Then, Lydia is blamed for a tragic accident involving Frankie. Unable to cope, she runs away, hoping to go back to London. However, she gets trapped in a freak storm on the Moors, and she ends up winding into the year 2032. Tarwich has a new name, citizens are not allowed out after 8 P.M and the Town is ruled by an evil Tyrant. And it’s up to Lydia to save the Town if she wants to get back home to the past and clear her name . . .
Thief! contains examples of:
- The '90s: The book was written in 1995, so it’s presumably set in November 1995.
- Alpha Bitch: Anne. She is the Queen Bee of the school and has a reputation as a mean girl. She’s also extremely manipulative and calculating.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Danny is this to Lydia when they were children.
- Bad Future: Lydia finds that the future of Tarwich has a Tyrant who makes everyone else’s life a misery, and that Tyrant is her younger brother. Anyone who is seen outside after 8 P.M gets shot by the Night Guards (the Tyrants army) and Lydia died in a car crash a few days before her 13th birthday, starting the Tyrants revenge plan. Then it’s revealed that while she was injured and wheelchair-bound, Lydia actually survived but allowed people to believe she had died to make them feel guilty, then she and her brother worked together and took over Tarwich, renamed it Hensonville and stopped both herself and her brother from having personal lives, such as marriage and having children. And Daniel eventually came to dislike his life, but stayed loyal because Lydia was his older sister. In short, Lydia is the true Tyrant of Hensonville.
- Beta Bitch: It’s unclear if Frankie or Maxine was Anne’s second-in-command, but it appears Frankie was as she and Anne were mentioned to be “best friends” before Lydia came along.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Of the Cosmics, Anne is Blonde, Bharti and Maxine are Brunettes, and Frankie has Reddish-Brown hair. Lydia (though not officially accepted) was briefly part of the gang and has Black hair.
- Brainy Brunette: Lydia is quite intelligent, does well in school and knows stealing the Sports Cup could have consequences.
- Fallen Princess: Before moving to Tarwich, Lydia was a popular, well-liked girl in London. In Tarwich, she only has one friend and after she is accused of Theft she is bullied by her classmates.
- Girl Posse: The Cosmics. Anne, Frankie, Maxine and Bharti (who gets kicked out of the group a few weeks prior to when the book starts).
- Gone Horribly Right: Lydia’s anger over Tarwich (due to being bullied at school for something she didn’t do and being falsely accused of pushing Frankie into the Road and being interviewed by the press about it) causes her to wish bad for every person in Tarwich. In the future, her old classmates are adults living in fear that they, their spouses or children will be killed by the Night Guards. The adults who angered Lydia are all either elderly by then or dead, and the children in that time never did anything to Lydia. Lydia naturally is horrid by this.
