Dolly and Susie Perkins were ill-treated by the Morgans, who were looking after them while their scientist parents were abroad. The Morgans wanted a formula, accidentally memorised by Susie, the younger sister, who had an extraordinary memory. Desperate, the girls ran away and took refuge in an old museum which only opened once a ‘week for school groups.
Teenager Sheena Shore and her pony, Taffy, had rescued Dream, a beautiful pony, from the river. Mr Bolton, the pony’s gruff owner, offered Sheena a job working with Dream and Sheena was about to go to the posh stables to start work.
After a disastrous fire which left her lame, Lindy Martin moved with her parents to the Suffolk village of Whitmarsh where she found that their cottage was once the home of a girl called Charity who was burnt as a witch. With her new friend, Kay, Lindy was searching for a book of herbal cures that Charity had hidden. Lindy suspected the sinister Professor Starkridge of being a descendant of the witchfinder who burnt Charity and that he, too, was looking for the book.
When Cathbad, the Archdruid, prophesies out of spite that Deirdre will be the death of many heroes and the down-fall of the Kingdom of Ulster, King Conchobar banishes her and an old woman called Levarcham to a barren island in the hope that both will perish.
Jane Allander’s paralysed right hand is cured by the insertion of a tiny electronic device. Unknown to anyone, Dr Krull, an enemy of its inventor, is controlling it, causing Jane a lot of unhappiness. Because her parents sell their house to pay for the operation, Jane doesn’t tell them about the problems she is having.
Orphans, Valerie Dean and Teresa Jones, are determined to remain great friends for ever. But when they are fostered, they discover that their families are bitter enemies. Val and Terry, are sent to separate schools, and when both are picked for the athletic teams, they are determined not to compete against each other.
Nine year old orphan Beauty Burns runs away from a Children’s Home where nobody likes her because she is beautiful. She meets on the moors a fierce-faced, ugly monster, Ug and befriends him.
The Barret family were “going up in the world.” First Mr Barret gained promotion at work —then Mrs Barret decided that they should take a larger house the country, as the next step up the ladder. Seventeen-year-old Laura Barret was all in favour of the change, but twelve-year-old Una wasn’t so happy. In their new house she found ten bottles hidden away, each time she opened one it caused whoever was exposed to the perfume to behave in strange ways…
(Ten Green Bottles – 1970)
(Ten Green Bottles – 1977, art: Guy Peeters)
Young Diane Starr was brought up on a small island off the Scottish mainland by a cold, mysterious guardian whom she knew only as Zara. Although Zara’s eye-sight was very poor, she trained Diane to be a brilliant tennis player. When she felt Diane could learn no more from her, Zara took the young girl to the mainland to compete in the West of Scotland Senior Championships.
Pam Thorpe had bought an innocent-looking glass ball in an antique shop and was shocked to discover that the ball could reveal what other people were actually thinking!
