A lost dog, a hidden time tunnel and a secret lake. A page-turning time travel adventure for children aged 8-11. Now enjoyed by thousands of young readers!

When Stella and her younger brother, Tom, move to their new London home, they become mystified by the disappearances of Harry, their elderly neighbour’s small dog. Where does he go? And why does he keep reappearing wet-through?

Their quest to solve the riddle over the summer holidays leads to a boat buried under a grassy mound, and a tunnel that takes them to a secret lake.

Who is the boy rowing towards them who looks so terrified? And whose are those children’s voices carried on the wind from beyond the woods?

Stella and Tom soon discover that they have travelled back in time to their home and its gardens almost 100 years earlier. Here they make both friends and enemies, and uncover startling connections between the past and present.

A modern children’s classic

The Secret Lake has been described by readers as a modern Tom’s Midnight Garden and compared in atmosphere with The Secret Garden and the Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew mystery adventure stories. Its page-turning plot, with its many twists and turns, makes it a firm favourite with both boys and girls.

Karen Inglis describes it as, a time travel mystery adventure with modern twists – the kind of story that I loved to read as a child, but brought right up to date.

When Iris’s Grandmother passed, she left behind her house and all her possessions, including 5 wooden fairy dolls. It was all very strange. Why her? She was only 11 years old. A house? Dolls? She didn’t play with dolls anymore. The one condition for her to keep her new house was that she was required to live in it. This is the same house where all the weird things happened, and it was out in the woods, in a new town.

Being the “new kid,” in a new town is weird enough, especially moving into a house with so many mysteries. And it doesn’t take long before things start to happen, unexplainable things, strange things. Before they even get there, on the way to the house, on the dirt road leading to it, she sees a little boy on a swing disappear in mid-swing, in a burst of light.

Of course she tells her Dad, they stop the car and look for him, but he’s gone. He didn’t see it. He doesn’t believe her. She has no friends here and her Dad thinks she has “issues,” since the death of her mother.

What can she do? Who can she tell? Who would believe her? She wonders if she should try to find him? What if you see things all the time that nobody else sees? Are you crazy?

11 year old Iris uncovers her own strange past and learns that anything is possible if you believe in yourself. Come with her and find yourself in the magical world of Fairalon, but be wary of the strange creatures you meet there.

Fairalon explores themes of trust, loneliness, friendship, and self-reliance with a sprinkle of budding romance in this coming of age action filled story.