The Glow from Below
Anna has just swapped the noisy streets of Pearl Island for a sheep-dotted farm perched above the hollow limestone country of Orahau — and she hates it. While her little brother Eddy falls head-over-heels for the caves’ famous titiwai glow worms, Anna counts the days until she can go home, until a raging midnight storm and a broken plank bridge send Eddy sliding down into the flooded tomo on the back paddock. With the search-and-rescue team still forty minutes away, Anna and her new friends — Ruby, torch-obsessed Theo, and farm boy Jonty — go down into the earth after him, chasing a trail of impossible blue-green lights that seem to be pointing the way.
What follows is a rescue under the ground, with the stream rising, the dark swallowing, and one burning question: can a trail of glow worm light lead a homesick girl and her baby brother home? Set against a background of local lore and natural wonder, The Glow from Below is a heartwarming, immersive story about courage, friendship, and the discovery that belonging isn’t a place — it’s the light you carry, and the light that carries you back.