All Fall Down — Susan Geason

Christabel McManus is a strong-willed fourteen-year-old from Sydney's upper classes. Since the death of her mother two years earlier, her father -- the Government Inspector of Health for New South Wales -- has thrown himself increasingly into his work, leaving Christabel feeling lonely and resentful. When Paddy Rafferty, a servant's eight-year-old son, is kidnapped by his villainous father to be trained as a pickpocket, Christabel decides to rescue him -- by dressing as a boy herself and heading into the squalid and crime-ridden streets of The Rocks. What begins as a game takes a terrifying turn, as Christabel discovers that the notoriously violent gangs are not the only thing to be feared; an outbreak of the deadly bubonic plague is imminent. And when Christabel, too, is kidnapped, the game becomes very dangerous indeedÂ...