Jennie

First published in the USA as The Abandoned in 1950

First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph in 1950 This edition published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2016 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Text copyright © 1950 by Paul Gallico. Copyright renewed 1978 by Virginia Gallico, Robert Gallico and William Gallico

Why You’ll Love This Book copyright © Vivian French 2011

Cover illustration © Chuck Groenik 2016

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, 2016

Paul Gallico asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007395194

Ebook Edition © 2016 ISBN: 9780007460526

Version: 2018-09-25

To the late Simon of the Amethyst

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Why You’ll Love This Book by Vivian French

Chapter One – How It Began

Chapter Two – Flight from Cavendish Square

Chapter Three – The Emperor’s Bed

Chapter Four – A Story is Told

Chapter Five – When in Doubt – Wash

Chapter Six – Jennie

Chapter Seven – Always Pause on the Threshold

Chapter Eight – Hoodwinking of an Old Gentleman

Chapter Nine – The Stowaways

Chapter Ten – Price of Two Tickets to Glasgow

Chapter Eleven – The Countess and the Crew

Chapter Twelve – Overboard!

Chapter Thirteen – Mr Strachan Furnishes the Proof

Chapter Fourteen – Mr Strachan’s Proof Leads to Difficulties

Chapter Fifteen – The Killers

Chapter Sixteen – Lost in the Clouds

Chapter Seventeen – Jennie Makes a Confession

Chapter Eighteen – Mr Grims Sleeps

Chapter Nineteen – London Once More

Chapter Twenty – The ‘Élite’ of Cavendish Square

Chapter Twenty-One – Reunion in Cavendish Mews

Chapter Twenty-Two – Jennie Makes a Decision

Chapter Twenty-Three – Lulu – or, Fishface for Short

Chapter Twenty-Four – The Informers

Chapter Twenty-Five – The Search

Chapter Twenty-Six – Jennie, Come Out

Chapter Twenty-Seven – The Last Fight

Chapter Twenty-Eight – How It All Ended

Keep Reading …

About the Author

About the Publisher

I can’t remember how old I was when I first read Jennie, but I do remember I couldn’t put it down. I told my friend Alison how brilliant it was and asked her if she wanted to borrow it, but she shook her head. “That’s a story for people who like cats,” she said, “and I like dogs.”

“But it’s a story about a boy called Peter,” I told her. “His mother’s always busy, and his father’s away a lot, and he’s lonely.”

Alison looked more interested. “Does he have adventures?”

“LOADS,” I said. “He gets into fights, and he goes travelling on a ship with an extraordinary crew, and he catches the most enormous rat—”

“YEUCH!”Alison made a face. “Why does he do that?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” I put the book on the table. “He runs after a kitten and gets knocked down by a coal lorry, and when he opens his eyes he discovers he’s a cat … but he doesn’t know how cats behave, so he has to learn. It’s Jennie who teaches him – and they have adventures together.”

Alison picked the book up, and flicked through the pages. “‘When in doubt – any kind of doubt – WASH!’” she read out loud, and laughed. “My brother HATES washing!”

“So did Peter,” I said. “But it’s different for cats. And it tells you why.”

“Is it a teachy book?”Alison looked suspicious. “I mean, does it pretend to be a story, but really it’s so you learn about cats?”

I thought about it. “No,” I said. “It’s much more about a friendship. Sometimes they get things wrong and get cross with each other, but they sort it out. You don’t learn stuff, but you do end up knowing exactly what it’s like being a cat, because of all the detail – like how they stretch and twist and jump, or how they clean themselves, or fight each other. It makes you really and truly feel as if you’ve lived in the world of cats, and understand the way they think. It’s so clever. And it’s funny, too.”

“Who’s your favourite character?”Alison wanted to know.

“Jennie, of course.” I was surprised she’d even asked. “And Captain Sourlies. He’s the captain of the ship they stow away on, and he weighs twenty-two stone, and he hates the sea. And big Angus, with fingers like sausages, who does embroidery. And Mr Grims—”