Alice, already unhappy at the sale of her childhood home, is also being sent away to a small Scottish boarding school. She meets fellow year seven Stormy Loch student Jesse Okuyo on the train. They hit it off, and then he betrays her, while another student, Fergus Mackenzie, trips her on arrival. From these inauspicious beginnings, a beautiful friendship forms among the three. It starts with Fergus’s apology, and comes to fullness during the year-end orienteering competition. Alice, who is white, plans to use the contest as cover to rendezvous with her father, Barney, whom she adores. Jesse, Black, overshadowed in his own mind by accomplished older brothers, longs to win the competition. Fergus, white, a bored genius angry at his parents for ignoring him, is committed to helping Alice achieve her goal. But the small package Barney sent Alice and told her to bring to their meeting turns out to contain big trouble in this over- the-top story perfectly pitched in the voice of an omniscient narrator drolly describing the quirkiness of Stormy Loch, where every student has a talent to be nurtured, the unreliability of Barney as a parent, and the ominousness of the villains (yes, there are villains). There is nothing but warmth and tenderness for its three main characters; above all Alice, who finds her courage, faces hard truths, and shines. (Ages 9–12)

A girl determined to follow her dream persuades two friends to join her for an off-the-grid adventure that becomes a survival story as they confront storms, illness, injury, and a gang of international jewel thieves.

Desperate to meet up with her unpredictable father, quiet Alice persuades two friends to abandon their boarding school's orienteering exercise and head for a remote, inaccessible island. As they confront storms, illness, injury, and a gang of international jewel thieves, the quest tests their courage and loyalty and strengthens the bonds of friendship. Readers will cheer the runaways on, laugh with them at their foibles, and share Alice's pleasure in overcoming the obstacles that stand in her way. This combination adventure, school story, and family story will delight fans of all three genres.