On the morning of Gail's birthday, she watches her shadow slip under the kitchen door. She's not surprised it decided to leave. Her dad has gone for good. Her big sister Kay, once Gail's best friend, has disappeared into sadness – and now her shadow has left too.

When reading this book it was so easy to become immersed in the surroundings of the Scottish Isle that Gail travels through following her own and her sister's shadows as they leave through the sadness and loss felt by both girls. Gail sets out to bring back the shadows and get her sister Kay back to how she was before their Dad left.. Both sisters are interested in marine life and Gail discovers more than what has happened to her shadow on her quest around the island. The book deals with sensitive themes such as bereavement and mental health in a powerful way and brings the characters feelings flooding out of the pages. An exciting mix of fantasy and real life dealing with issues of courage, love, loss and hope. A beautifully told story.

I enjoyed this book. It has a very strong vibe to it and artfully uses magical realism in a middle grade story setting. It's wistful, sometimes sad, but also full of meaning, and it doesn't dawdle in its pace.

Gail is going through a tough patch in her life. Her sister Kay has always been her pillar, but now that Kay's holed up in her room and wouldn't leave, wouldn't even eat much, Gail doesn't know what to do. Torn between being angry at Kay and simply wanting her back - back to normal, she is in despair. To top it off, both Kay and Gail's shadows suddenly go missing.

When angrily roving the nearby beach caves while trying to find Kay's shadow, Gail meets a girl who tells her that only people who have lost themselves can lose their shadow. There is also a lot Gail feels this little girl isn't telling her - particularly about her brother's strange machines that he seems to be hiding in the mysterious, notorious and allegedly enchanted caves. So Gail and her new friend Mhirran set off on a quest to get the shadows back.

The book isn't just about that - there are actually a few plots coming along all together. I'm pretty surprised that this could be achieved in a relatively short book. It's not happening too fast, it's not too little info - everything is just right. I am usually not a fan of magical realism, unless it's done just right - so I have to say that's exactly how it is in this book. I really liked it. It wasn't too much, it was tasteful and it made sense.

The book delves into depression in kids, loss and trying to work tough situations out without being able to tell adults what's going on in your heart. It also uses magical realism nicely to illustrate all this - it's interchangeably a metaphor and the reality for what's going on in the book. It also subtly draws attention to some environmental problems and how we destabilize the climate, as well as disrespecting endangered species.

I really enjoyed this story.

Very good story about love, life, loss and family. The characters will reach our youth with their search for self.

I enjoyed this adventure tale set on an island. After falling out with her sister, Gail sets off on an adventure to find her sister’s shadow. It is a tale filled with messages about ecology, marine life and treating the land and animals with respect. It’s packed full of information about various creatures and would make an interesting study in the classroom.

I did not care for this one. I couldn't get into it and was skimming through the pages. I didn't understand the whole shadow part and was just confused throughout the whole book.

A touching story about children struggling with depression, using the metaphor of losing their shadow. This book was enjoyable to read through the poetic writing and I would both recommend it to my pupils and use extracts to teach figures of speech. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC egalley.

This book is littered with descriptive phrases that really paint a picture of a wonderful setting. For me, I thought there was a bit much and I felt that the author was perhaps trying too hard. Don't get me wrong, the similes and other literary descriptive devices the author used gave a beautiful lyricism but I just felt that some of it got in the way of the story.


This is about Gail who, with her sister Kay, have a deep love for nature, especially sea creatures. This is what bonds them. They are extremely lucky to live near to the sea with cliffs, caves and rock pools, full of creatures and fish to learn about. They explore to their hearts content and then draw and research at home, becoming proficient little experts in their field.


Running alongside this backstory is the sadness of how a newly split family can deeply upset the children in the home. The older sister Kay, falls into a depression when their father leaves the family home. At the same time her shadow disappears. Gail feels responsible for the shadow going, so sets off on her quest to find it and bring it back in the hope that it will also bring Kay back to her former self.


There are many twists and turns along the way, with maps, clues, mysterious people, storms and an eerie, yet magical adventure.


I thought the portrayal of depression in children was covered well and could be quite an eye opener for adults reading this should they have been in a similar parental position and not quite realised the effect this can have on the children, let alone themselves. Mum is having to work extra hard to bring the money in, and keep going for the children's sake as well as dealing with her own emotions straight after her husband has left her. Whilst she acknowledges that Kay is feeling low, to the detriment of Gail, she doesn't fully understand the toll it has taken on her, or how much Gail is being left out. I'm sure there would also be some readers who could easily identify with either mum, Kay or Gail.


Overall this is a lovely book that covers a sensitive issue that perhaps not many others would like to write about. Don't think that from what I've said it is all doom and gloom though. Far from it! We follow Gail's adventurous quest to find Kay's shadow and see just how much of a devoted sister she is.

The writing style in The Girl Who Lost Her Shadow leaves much to be desired. Choppy sentence structure with excessive use of first names when pronouns would have done just as well is pervasive. Maybe there should have been more help at the editing stage. I couldn't get past the 1st chapter.

When storms come to the island, they kill people.

When one storm came, Francis' parents were out bird watching, and a tree fell on them.

But, since Francis knows that shadows, or souls, were taken by the storm, he feels that if he can find the missing shadows, and take them back, he can find his parents.

Meanwhile, Gail has lost both her and her sister's shadow, and is looking for them, and Francis just sees her as one more soul, or shadow to take. (At times it is not clear if they are one and the same thing).

And also, meanwhile, there are some boys who are trying to hunt for endangered shellfish.

Oh, and there is a boy, who is really a hurricane, who is hanging out on the island too.

If that all sounds confusing, it is, at times, but I believe it is meant to be for Gail. Too bad it is also confusing for the reader.

I really liked the idea of a storm carrying all the souls (or shadows) that it killed around with them. I also liked the idea that without a shadow, you were not all there, and you were a bit fuzzy around the edges.

So, while there were some good ideas in this book, and in the end, I was satisfied they had all been wrapped up, I had a bit of a problem with the execution .

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.