Nobody's Boy
is a classic coming-of-age story by Hector Malot, and this edition includes the original four illustrations of the tale.
Inspired by the young street musicians from Italy who lived in Paris in the late 19
th
century, the titular 'Nobody's Boy' is Rémi, who was abandoned as a baby in Paris. Taken in by the impoverished Jerome Barberin and his wife, he is given up at eight years old to a travelling artist known as Signor Vitalis. Vitalis is a great lover of animals, and travels with his faithful dogs and a monkey. Thus begin Rémi's adventures, where he grapples with hardship and adversities but remains determined to become an upstanding young man.
The book remains the best-known and most-treasured of Hector Malot's works, having been adapted for the stage, as an animated cartoon, and as a film. The tale gained particular popularity in Japan; introduced as a film entitled
Chibikko Remi to Meiken Kapi
by Toei Animation in 1970, it has since been readapted by other studios in the country.