Tiggie
A Story of Good & Evil Written for Young People
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
In the van Lucy repeated, "Wha'd'y'mean? Spooky?"
Patsy said, "If it bothers you, stay and load the van."
"No," said Lucy, "I'm not afraid. It's just an old house."
When they stepped into the empty hallway Helen shouted, "Come out, come out, whoever you are!" Lucy didn't smile. What was in the house did not disclose itself, but the house was not empty.
Lucy, alone, sorting boxes in an attic became aware of whispering.
"Who's there?" she called and heard the fear in the echo of her own voice. The whispering moved away and Lucy called, "Helen? Helen, please don't! I don't like it."
When Helen came tramping breathless up the stairs Lucy accused her directly, "It’s not funny. Trying to frighten me."
"But I haven't done anything," Helen protested.
The girls carried boxes of books down the stairs together. A book fell unnoticed from Helen's burden and pages open, tumbled and fluttered like a broken bird into plain view on the step
Lucy, first up the stairs, picked up the book, an old copy of Beatrix Potter's THE ADVENTURES OF MRS. TIGGY-WINKLE. To her surprise Lucy saw there was an inscription. To my own sweet Lucy from her own dear Tiggie. Helen took the book from her, “Oh, Lucy, you lucky thing! It's for you! It can only be for you!"
Patsy came up the stairs to join them. Helen cried, "Look what Lucy's found."
Patsy took the book and smiled, "Good Heavens! What an odd coincidence!"
A feverish Lucy begged, "You will let me buy it, won't you, Patsy?"
"Gedartahere!" said Patsy.
“Thank you,” said Lucy, and sat on the stairs to read again the inscription. Someone whispered her name, but turning, she found no one.
"Who's there?" she called. The whisper echoed again and Lucy followed irresistibly the echo of her name down the stairs to the cellar door. The voice called insistently from within. Lucy took a deep breath and opened the cellar door.
She stood very still, frightened and astonished. Nothing was as she expected it to be.&nb
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About the Book
“Are you two scared of spooky houses?” are the opening words of TIGGIE. Are you, dear reader, scared of spooky houses? Don’t worry! You’re safe enough, in your favourite chair with a copy of TIGGIE in trembling hands, but when the thirteen-year-old friends, London girls, Lucy Barrett and Helen Bartlett, enter an old house, helping an antiques dealer, Patsy, collect her purchases, there is an evil presence awaiting them. When Lucy picks up an old copy of Beatrix Potter’s MRS. TIGGYWINKLE, the trap is sprung with tragic consequences.
About the Author
Alex Ferguson is an experienced writer, successful in radio, television and film. His Radio Four series MY UNCLE FREDDIE ran for six seasons and in 1997 won the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s Award for Comedy & Light entertainment. Alex is the founding writer of Corin & Vanessa Redgrave’s Moving Theatre with successful productions of his plays THE FLAG and CASEMENT at Battersea Lane and the Riverside. In 1997 Alex won the Guinness National Award for Pub Theatre with BIG MAMA. In 2004 he won a regional Royal Television Society nomination for the short film LADS! and was selected for the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum at the Screenlit Festival in April 2010 with PAINTING OVER THE CRACKS. Alex has a commendable history in radio & television drama and was the Creative Director of the Bold As Brass Theatre Company that he founded in 1997 until 2008 when he became Life President. His collections of short stories, MY UNCLE FREDDIE [2004] and UNCLE FREDDIE & THE PRINCE OF WALES [2010] are published by Iron Press. TIGGIE is his first venture into juvenile fiction. It won’t be his last.