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