"A boy stood in the playground under the big fig tree. 'He can't speak English,' the children whispered...Sydney, 1942. The war is coming to Australia - not only with the threat of bombardment, but also the arrival of refugees from Europe. Dreamy Columba's world is shaken when Ellery, the little boy from far away, arrives at her school, and a mysterious stray cat appears in the neighbourhood... Both the boy and the cat have secrets. Can they help Columba make sense of the changes that are happening around her? Or are there some thing she may never understand?..." -- Back cover.
