Toppsta - Childrens Books – Reviews

Abie Longstaff Biography
Abie Longstaff is the eldest of six children and grew up in Australia, Hong Kong and France. She knows all about squabbling and bossing younger sisters around so she began her career as a barrister. She started writing when her children were born. Her books include The Fairytale Hairdresser series, The Magic Potions Shop books and The Trapdoor Mysteries. She has a lifelong love of fairy tales and mythology and her work is greatly influenced by these themes. 

Abie got the idea for the Trapdoor Mysteries from her parents' house in France. The house is big and old, with lots of rooms and outbuildings. In one of the bedrooms, there is a secret entrance hidden in a fireplace. It leads to a room that was used by the French Resistance during the war. It was the perfect idea for a book! 

Abie lives with her family by the seaside in Hove.

Abie Longstaff Facts
Abe loves writing for children because she has very clear and happy memories of her childhood and loves that feeling of disappearing into a little world of imagination. Many of her story ideas come from the crazy games she plays with her own children.

Our favourite Abie Longstaff Book Characters
Tally and Squill - from The Trapdoor Mysteries
Charlie - from How To Bewitch A Wolf
Kitty Lacey - from The Fairytale Hairdresser series

Our favourite Abie Longstaff Book Quotes
"As quick as she could, Kittie pulled out her hand mirror. She held it up high in the air. The sleeping spell bounced off and whoosh! it hit the wicked fairy" (The Fairytale Hairdresser)

"Tally is an orphan. She works as a servant and sleeps in the kitchen sink. But all around her there are secret passages, ancient mysteries and magical adventures just waiting to be found." (The Trapdoor Mysteries)