The story "shadows" by Tim Bowler is about a boy called Jamie. Jamie is the main person in this book and he's also the most important character.
Jamie is good at squash and he does a very hard training every day. He is coached by his own father. But there's a difference between what everyone of them want to reach in playing squash. Jamie is pressured by his father, because he just wants the best for Jamie. Everything, he hadn't achieved in his youth as a squash player, he wants Jamie to do better. But Jamie doesn't agree with his father, so there are more problems between them, bit by bit.
When Jamie lost a game one day, his father's very sick, but his act makes Jamie running away from home.
In those days, when Jamie is break away, some things happen, of which Jamie never thought about.
Jamie meets a girl and they help eachother in this difficult situation, the girl also has her own sad story.
Jamie and the girl become very good friends and the girl shows him what it's like to be "a shadow" and someday Jamie also knows that he's one of them.
In those days, the two become big problems with some guys and later the whole story is something like a fight of surviving. This story gets really exciting and dramatic.
At the end there's a sadness in Jamie's family and Jamie tries to get back into his old life but he knows, that this is not easy.