This second delightful story about Porridge Hall (following on from Dog Friday) takes the reader back to the days when Kathy Brogan, Robin's mother, was a girl . . .
It's December, and Robin, his friend Dan, and Sun Dance are laid low with chickenpox. To keep them amused, Robin's mother entertains them with memories of the summer when she was eleven and Nick and Charley stayed at her house. When they met Harriet, a strange, shabbily dressed girl who seemed full of surprises and magic, but remained a mystery, until Sun Dance solves the riddle with a small amber cat . . .
Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, Hilary McKay grew up in a household of readers and read voraciously from an early age. After studying Botany and Zoology at St Andrews University, she went on to work as a biochemist, but always wanted to write. Hilary's novels have won numerous awards including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Smarties Award and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. She lives in a small village in Derbyshire with her family.