Rosa By Starlight

From the Costa Award-winning author Hilary McKay, comes the story of a young girl looking for magic in the world, and the feline family who help her to find it.Rosa lives in a world where she discovers there is magic. It arrives with Balthazar, a large black cat, just when she needs it most. Even so, it takes all her courage to stay hopeful and adventurous when her dreadful aunt and uncle move into her life.And when she finds herself abandoned in the ancient city of Venice, can magic help her then? Perhaps it can.The stars are watching, and there are lots of cats in Venice…

A wistful, comforting treasure of a story destined to become a classic., Beautiful, captivating, such a joy to read I didn't want it to end!, A magical story, beautifully told and illustrated too. With cats and Venice and – at the end – kindness., Even in the darkest of times, there are cats and magic and starlight! This is a book to be treasured - I loved it., Rosa by Starlight is magical not least because of Hilary McKay’s magic touch. From the first line, I was under its spell ...

Hilary McKay won the Costa Children's Book Award for The Skylarks' War, the Guardian Fiction Prize for The Exiles, and the Smarties and the Whitbread Award for The Exiles in Love and Saffy's Angel respectively. She is also the author of Straw Into Gold, A Time of Green Magic and The Swallows' Flight, a companion novel to The Skylarks' War, among many critically-acclaimed titles. Hilary studied Botany and Zoology at the University of St Andrews, and worked as a biochemist before the draw of the pen became too strong and she decided to become a full-time writer. Hilary lives in Derbyshire with her family. Rosa by Starlight is one of her many books with Macmillan Children's Books. Keith Robinson has been a freelance illustrator since 2001 and loves illustrating children’s fiction. His work is informed by a love of nature, myth and history, all of which can be found in abundance where he lives, on the Devon-Dorset border. The beautiful landscape of the West Country, the stunning scenery of the Jurassic Coast and the wilds of nearby Dartmoor provide a constant source of inspiration. When Keith isn't working he enjoys hiking, camping, beach-combing, playing the guitar and rummaging through second-hand book shops. He lives with his wife and two children in a woodland cottage near the seaside town of Lyme Regis. He works from his studio in the garden. Everyone else calls it a shed but he insists that it’s a ‘studio’.

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