My project for course: Introduction to Writing a Children’s Fantasy Novel

My project for course: Introduction to Writing a Children’s Fantasy Novel

Eleven-year-old Alice Cleary lives behind a disused theatre with William, her uncle, and Mary Clyde, an elderly servant who has been with the family for decades. 
William’s family has owned Cleary’s Theatre for many years. It was once famous for its spectacular productions and magical stagecraft but has been failing since the sudden retirement of William's grandfather Jacob. Now all that is left are debts, and the theatre will have to be sold. Alice adores William and can see how depressed this is making him. She will do anything to save the theatre, the only home she has ever known. Despite William's warnings that the building is unsafe, Alice loves playing on the cavernous stage and in the dusty dressing rooms. She dreams of finding Jacob’s missing fortune, which is rumoured to be hidden somewhere in the theatre.

One day, rummaging through a rack of old costumes, Alice finds a pair of trousers - with legs in them.
The legs belong to Tom, a runaway who has been living in the abandoned dressing rooms, who seems to know the place even better than she does. Alice agrees to keep his secret. 
Tom tells her that there is one room that frightens him. He says it is haunted and claims to have heard strange noises coming from it. Alice, curious, investigates. She discovers a locked door through which she is sure she can hear the sea. She and Tom fall through the rotting door while arguing and find themselves in a tunnel that leads to a grotto on an island full of magical creatures. Alice realises that this was the secret of Jacob Cleary’s marvellous productions.

Alice asks Mary Clyde about the island. Mary tells her that the place is dangerous, and the opening has been blocked for good reason. She says darkly that if folks can get in, then folks can get out. But Alice and Tom ignore Mary's warnings. They explore the island, which at first seems full of delights and wonders. They are followed by a cat who seems to be trying to tell them something. Eventually, they realise that the island has a dark side and is controlled by a tyrannical enchantress. But it is too late. The enchantress’ spies have been watching them. Unbeknownst to Alice and Tom, she follows them out.

A few days later, Alice finds William in a euphoric state. He tells her that he has had a visit from a rich, eccentric noblewoman who has recently moved to the city. She wants to refurbish the theatre and put on a play the like of which has never been seen before. Alice looks at the lady's visiting card and is horrified when it dissolves in her fingers. But she doesn’t want to spoil William’s excitement, so says nothing.

As preparations begin, Alice and Tom realise that the noblewoman is really the enchantress. Intoxicated by the prospect of having power over a great city, not just over her little island, she has decided to use Cleary’s Theatre to launch her plans. A new play at the restored theatre is sure to attract a wealthy and influential crowd, even the King. Once she has them all under one roof, she can unleash her magic and seize control of them and the city. Alice and Tom know they must stop her. They return to the island, thinking they might find the answer there, but this time it looks different. The marble columns are cracked, and weeds sprout in the perfect lawns. The cat, which can now speak, tells the children she was once a woman and has been imprisoned on the island for many years. She tells them that the only way to stop the enchantress is to destroy a magical urn, the source of all her power. 

Alice searches the enchantress’ palace for the urn, but there are dozens, of all shapes and sizes. But then she sees an empty plinth. The enchantress has taken the urn with her, explaining why her power over the island is failing. Tom rushes in, saying that the island is collapsing into the sea and the entrance to the grotto is already blocked. Outside in the stables, the magical creatures have broken out of their stalls and all is chaos. Tom manages to leap onto a hippogriff’s back and hauls Alice and the cat after him. They fly off to the enchantress’ lodgings in our world. There they find, not the marble urn they were expecting, but a humble teapot. (The enchantress has keenly observed the customs of her new domain and noted the importance of teapots.)
They take it and continue on to the theatre. Alice wants to smash the teapot, but Tom reminds her that if she does so, every enchantment will be broken and the hippogriff will fall out of the sky, plunging them to their deaths. They fly on, pursued now by a flock of terrifying clawed creatures that keep changing form. As they approach the theatre, the pursuing creatures become murderous pigeons. The teapot slips out of Alice’s arms. 

They cling to the roof of a neighbouring building just as the hippogriff transforms into a swallow and the pigeons explode into fireballs. Helpless, they watch them crash into the theatre, which bursts into flame. The crowd rushes out, and the fire engines arrive, too late to save the building, now returned, without the enchantress’ magic, to its former dilapidated state. But the enchantress is destroyed and the city safe.

Alice and Tom find themselves sharing the roof with a stout middle-aged lady. Miss Primrose Bethuny is William’s long lost sweetheart, whom he thought had jilted him, but who had become trapped on the island in the form of a cat.
The lovers are reunited. William admits that he never really liked the theatre anyway and that he and Primrose want to live ‘somewhere where she can play her cello and he can look at cows.’ But the theatre has one last secret. In the ruins, Alice finds a chest full of gold coins – the last of Jacob Cleary’s fortune. William gives Tom enough gold to buy his freedom and the rest to Alice. The next chapter of Cleary’s Theatre, he tells them, will be theirs.