The Penderel House

THE PENDEREL CHILDREN - Henry (12), Nan (11) and James (7)- are spending the summer holidays with their grandmother. Mr. Penderel, their father, is in Wales where his firm is building a new bridge, and Mrs. Penderel has gone with him. All seems set for an uneventful holiday until Granny reveals that Mr. Penderel is thinking of buying an old house which had once been attached to a convent and in which King Charles II had taken refuge after losing a battle with the Roundheads. What is more, the house had been owned by a family called Penderel. With such exciting news it hardly seems to matter that the children are not related to the original Penderels, whose descendants are all living in America. So, loading their bicycles with sleeping-bags and a few days' supply of food, they set off clandestinely to see Hubball Grange for themselves. To their great dismay, they find that "their' house is almost a ruin. They meet Aldith Holt and Robin, her big brother, who live nearby, and go with them to their home. Mrs. Holt rings up their Granny, who, surprisingly, but for reasons that become clear only at the end of the book, agrees to allow the children to stay for a few days with the Holts. Adventure follows upon adventure, and danger-and even tragedy-is never far away, but by the time this exciting story ends everything turns out happily for everyone.