Rose and Star meet at a child welfare home for abandoned kids and form a special bond. They come from similar backgrounds, but they have something else in common, too: a love of cats. The young girls rescue two small felines under strange circumstances. Shadow is found hiding in a pit during a forest fire, and Pearl is saved from an attack of angry squirrels.
As their friendship develops – between the girls and the cats – a twist of fate has them running for cover. The eldest staff member at the welfare home, Eliza, threatens to send Rose and Star to boarding school, so they escape on a whim. However, they lose their precious pets in the process and now must find Shadow and Pearl before it’s too late.
Taking inspiration from her love of animals, 11-year-old author Ghita El Mernissi says she “started writing just to see what it would feel like.” “Shadow” (published by Partridge Singapore), a story of two orphan girls who find themselves lost in a fantastical adventure, was the result of this experiment.
Through twists and turns in plot, to cats that suggest there might be some hidden power and magic to them, just beyond the surface, readers will find a story that demonstrates nothing is ever impossible.