Help celebrate the author’s birthday by listening to the next instalment here
This is day 6 of my lockdown project. A chapter a day for children of all ages who may be in need of a bedtime (or any time) story.
The Night of the Round Stable is a magical-friend fantasy complete with hidden doorways, talking animals and ingenious technology.
At the heart of the story is the sparky relationship between a decidedly odd couple:
- Johanna Blake, 11, who packs a doubt-free moral compass, a vegetarian Joan of Arc, no prisoners taken… but with a heart in exactly the right place; and
- Mr Phigg, some ten times her age, a hard-working slacker with a silver key that can open any door – he seems to know it all, but can’t always be trusted to tie his own shoelaces.
It is never entirely clear who is looking after whom. The pair join forces to stop a factory farm being built – and find themselves up against not just cruelty and bureaucracy, but the most fearsome creatures in several dimensions and a would-be supervillain, who’s out to rule them all.
The lovely Ruth Holland drew the pictures.
Mr Phigg 