The Runaways is a children's novel by the English author Ruth Thomas, published by Hutchinson in 1987.

It features eleven-year-old Julia and Nathan who find "an enormous sum of money", do not report it, and flee the city when they are threatened with punishment.

[1] Opening in the East End of London where Thomas was a primary school teacher, the story moves to places including Brighton and Exmoor.

Thomas and The Runaways won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.

[2] It drew critical acclaim, with The Guardian declaring it "A first rate novel".