During a summer spent in rural Ireland, four city children must learn how to fend for themselves - and try to hide a mysterious runaway... A classic children's adventure story from Noel Streatfeild for readers of 9+.
When Alex, Penny, Robin and Naomi's father travels abroad and falls suddenly ill, their mother must leave immediately to be with him. The children are left in the care of their one relative, Great Aunt Dymphna, who lives in a dilapidated old house on the Irish coast.
Aunt Dymphna is an eccentric old lady who talks in rhyme, eats toadstools and believes the seagulls give her the news. She leaves the bewildered children to look after themselves in a separate wing of the house, so the city children are soon out of their depth. Alex must learn how to catch fish, Penny works out how to cook - but the biggest problem arrives when a mysterious boy named Stephan appears on their doorstep and begs that the children hide him in the house.
Who is this strange, ungrateful boy? And how long can the children manage to keep him a secret?
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Noel Streatfeild was born in Amberley, Sussex in 1895. Her first novel, Ballet Shoes, is her best-known book but she went on to write many well-loved books for children, including Circus Shoes which won the Carnegie Medal in 1938. In 1983 she was honoured for her contribution to children's publishing when she was awarded an OBE. She died in 1986.
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