When she is eleven years old, Martine is orphaned and sent to live with her grandmother on a game reserve in South Africa. Her grandmother seems strangely unwelcoming and Martine has a difficult time settling in at her new school, where she is conspicuously an outsider. But she has an ally in Tendai - one of the keepers on the reserve, from whom she learns the lore and survival techniques of the bush, and in Grace - who instantly senses there is something special about Martine. There are secrets about Sawubona (the reserve) just waiting to be revealed, and rumours too about a fabled white giraffe - a trophy for hunters everywhere. One night Martine, lonely and feeling slightly rebellious too, looks out of her window and see a young albino giraffe - silver, tinged with cinnamon in the moonlight. This is the beginning of her mysterious and magical adventures - her discovery of her gift of healing and a secret valley that she travels to with the giraffe, where she'll find clues about her past and future. Above all it's is a heart-warming story, full of charm and atmosphere, and Martine's sheer delight in her giraffe friend and the fantastic landscape which is theirs to explore.
Read by Adjoa Andoh
This is Book 1 in the White Giraffe Series Series. See all White Giraffe Series books here.
See More General fiction
Lauren St John grew up surrounded by horses, cats, dogs, horses and a pet giraffe on a farm and game reserve in Zimbabwe, the inspiration for her bestselling White Giraffe and One Dollar Horse series. At 17, she spent a year in the UK working as a veterinary nurse before becoming a sports and music journalist. Dead Man's Cove, the first in her Laura Marlin M
More about Lauren St. John David Dean (Author)
David Dean graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1999 with a BA in Illustration. He has illustrated multiple award-winning books and is known for his lively and colourful work, with a strong focus on mood and drama. He has won acclaim for his beautiful covers for the reissued Michael Morpurgo books, whic
