Eleven-year-old Pearl has always lived on the edges of society. Brought up by her mum on a narrow boat, she never went to school and rarely mixed with other people. But now her mum is ill in hospital and Pearl has been sent to live with a foster family and there is talk of her being adopted by a forever family. All Pearl wants is to be back with her mum on the boat, and when she hears that her mum has absconded from the hospital, she decides to run away back to the boat, where she is sure she will find her...

 

This book is part of a book series called Orchard Red Apples .

There are 208 pages in this book. This book was published 2007 by Hachette Children's Group .

Gillian Lobel gave up teaching to write for children and went on to become an established author, well-known for her picture books, including Orchard's Ellie and the Butterfly Kitten. But in this, her first novel for teenagers, she shows that she has a strong, authentic voice that will appeal to older readers too. Gillian lives in Leicester.