Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms

Even a life on the untamed plains of Africa can’t prepare a young girl for the wilds of an English boarding school in this “gripping, magical, and heartwarming tale of resilience, friendship, and hope” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Impossible Creatures, Katherine Rundell.

Wilhelmina Silver’s world is golden. Living on a farm in southern Africa with her horse, her monkey, and her best friend, every day is beautiful. But when her home is sold and Will is sent away to boarding school in England, the world becomes impossibly difficult.

Lions and hyenas are nothing compared to packs of vicious schoolgirls. Where can a girl—even a wildcat like Will—run to in London? And will she have the courage to survive?

Katherine Rundell is the author of Rooftoppers, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms (a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner), The Wolf Wilder, The Explorer, The Good Thieves, The Zebra’s Great Escape, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Impossible Creatures and its sequels. She grew up in Zimbabwe, Brussels, and London, and is currently a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She begins each day with a cartwheel and believes that reading is almost exactly the same as cartwheeling: it turns the world upside down and leaves you breathless. In her spare time, she enjoys walking on tightropes and trespassing on the rooftops of Oxford colleges.