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Hope's adventure starts when she visits a sweet shop on the Old High Street in Folkestone. This cobbled street, lined with little colourful shops and galleries winds down a hill which then opens out into a quaint fishing harbour.

Hope's mother had been taken to hospital and since there was no-one else to look after her, a social worker had arranged for her to stay with her grandmother, someone Hope felt she hardly knew and anyway she had thought "Aren't I old enough to look after myself at home in London? I'm not a child". As the train pulled out of St Pancras she had seen the diminutive figure of the social worker, huddled against the cold, hurrying away from the platform."
"I'm just a parcel to be delivered" she reflected. Picking up her sketch pad she began to draw. She loved drawing and it allowed her to escape the emotional turmoil she had felt leaving London. However, little did she know that even her drawings were a premonition of what was to come.

This is an illustration from the book showing Hope and her grandmother visiting the old fashioned sweet shop in the Old High Street. Hope had been attracted to all the different colours and shapes of the sweets,, so they went in to have a look around. Who wouldn't be tempted!
However, she started to realise that things were not what they seemed.
"As she moved towards a shelf lined with jars of brightly coloured confectionary she had a strange sensation as if she were outside herself, watching herself. Everything seemed to be happening so slowly and the shop, the sweets and everything around her began to grow dimmer, out of focus...."

In this illustration from the book. Mog is a most extraordinary cat.
Cats always seem to appear at dinner time and then disappear. Have you ever wondered where they go to when they are not around?
And who might say this,
" But I don't like this place. No tinned cat food anywhere. Can you imagine arguing with a mouse before you eat it?"

Hope is staying with her grandmother who lives alone in a large old house. There are many of these tall white Victorian houses in the West End of Folkestone. This is a painting of one of them. It's easy to imagine in times past this grand old house being lit by candlelight and looking mysterious at twilight.

This is a part of the curved staircase which wound its way to the top floor in Hope's grandmother's
house. Hope had just been to her grandfather's study at the top of the house and had found a Shell Stone and a torn piece of paper that had fallen out of one of his notebooks. It said
"Remember to take the Shell Stone and help them".

Hope wondered what this could mean so rushed down the stairs to ask her grandmother if she knew anything about it.

This is a picture of one of
the sweet jars that Hope was looking at in the window of the sweet shop in the Old High Street.
Lip sweets. Hopefully, they are not real?

Hope had definately left Folkestone but where was she? It was so dark in the strange forest and then these balls of blue light came towards her and.....?

The paperback edition with black and white illustrations (price £7.99 plus p&p) now available to order from Amazon. (ISBN 978-0-9957077-6-4). Click the image to go to the Amazon UK site (opens in new window).

The hardback edition with colour illustrations (price £10.99 plus p&p)
is available from book shops (ISBN 978-0-9957077-5-7) and on Amazon. Click here to go to the Amazon UK website (opens in new window).

In the dedication you will see the name 'Nadia'. That means 'Hope' and the main character, Hope Benedict, is named for her. Nadia died from motor neurone disease and the authors royalties from the book will be donated to help combat this disease and support those suffering from it. One of the main charities involved in this work is the Motor Neurone Disease Association. Whilst you are here why not click on their logo to visit their website and see the work they do.

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Endoze illustrations copyright © Simona Richmond 2020
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