Pearl loves her life with her family. She’s free to sleep when she wants, hide in any bags she can find, or swat the family dog Decca for fun.

What she doesn’t like is the storm that descends on her home one night, roaring and shrieking at the windows. It is Cyclone Gabrielle, and it has only just begun. So much rain falls, that water begins rising outside. Suddenly her family must flee but they can’t find Pearl in her hiding place. She yowls but the storm is louder! Pearl is all alone.

But she is not forgotten. As soon as it is safe, a neighbour comes looking for her. Saved from her home filled with sticky, thick mud she is airlifted to safety along with others from her community. After meeting a group of other cats and a dog, she is finally reunited with her family and friend Decca the dog.

Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand on Monday 13th February, and in the early hours of Tuesday morning (Valentines Day), a third of Hawke’s Bay entire year’s predicted rainfall fell in 12 hours. Six bridges were destroyed and eight people lost their lives as stop banks also burst across the region. Although one of New Zealand’s worst ever weather events, Pearl in a Whirl shares the story in a sensitive way through a beloved family puss.

Pearl is first introduced as cheeky and funny and a much loved member of a family. Tension arrives in the story as the cyclone does and everyone leaving Pearl behind tugs at the heartstrings. The illustrations however show a puss still trying to play and wondering where her family is. Her rescue isn’t far behind though and Pearl’s tail is high in greeting – showing she is okay to young readers or listeners to her tale.

Best selling author Catherine Robertson and creative extraordinaire Fifi Colston have collaborated on this gorgeous picture book in support of the Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery. Royalties from sales of Pearl in a Whirl will be donated to the Hawke’s Bay Foundation and its HB Cyclone Relief Fund.

More thanks are to go to Penguin Random NZ for their help in this special release, Brebner Print in Napier for producing such a beautiful book and Wardini Books for also donating to the Hawke’s Bay Foundation Relief Fund.

Fun Fact: On close inspection at the floating items inside the house, there is another animal story to be seen. Have you read it? It’s a great read. Grab yourself a copy at Wardini Books to support the illustrator of Pearl in a Whirl.

Author – Catherine Robertson

Illustrator – Fifi Colston

Picture Book

Find the Hawke’s Bay Foundation’s Cyclone Relief Fund here

(2023, Penguin Random House, New Zealand, NZ, Cyclone Gabrielle, Floods, Puketapu, Puss, Cat, Animals, Rescue, Airlifted, Family, Fundraiser, Donated Royalties, 14 February 2023, Valentines Day, Flooding, Mud, Reunion)