Secret Staircase

SECRET STAIRCASE. Novel for children aged 9 – 12. Tracy, aged twelve and and her family move into her late great-great-grandmother’s house which her father has inherited. Tracy, an only child finds an old photograph album. In it, is a picture of a girl of around the same age as herself. Beneath the brown-cracked snapshot, is a name, Isabel, and the date June 1901. Tracy’s bedroom used to be Isabel’s. Tracy finds a key in the chest of drawers. Exploring the loft, she discovers a small door. She opens it with the key – revealing a staircase. Deciding to explore, she finds herself still in the same house but a hundred years in the past, where a birthday party for Isabel is in full swing. Isabel’s papa, seeing Tracy’s short hair and jeans, not only imagines she’s a boy, but also a gatecrasher. He throws her out of the house. She is eventually let in again by Isabel, who hearing her crying, takes pity on her. Tracy encourages Isabel to return with her to the twenty-first century. The two girls have adventures in the present and the past. They rescue a match-girl, Carlotta, aged seven, who is half starved by Maude Snell and made to beg. Carlotta limps. Tracy and Isabel bring her to the present day so she can have an operation on her hip – once she is cured, she could get a position of a scullery maid. BUT CARLOTTA HAS OTHER IDEAS…