Why a Booktrail?
Destination: London Departure TIme: 1950s, post-WW2 Britain
In a medieval mansion they call Milton Magna…… the story begins
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets
What you need to know before your trail
Penelope Wallace is 18. She’s a nice enough girl but is bored with life until Blonde and exciting Charlotte enters her life. Charlotte Ferris is the epitome of 1950s glamour and has a unique view on life and wants to enjoy the parties and lifestyle that the music and dancing of the times allows.
Penelope’s mother Talitha is lost without her husband and their financial situation so soon after the war is precarious at best. But it’s penelope that gets out in to the world, with the help of Charlotte and her Aunt Clare.
Milton Magna is the scene of many an adventure but it’s Charlotte and her wish to dance, have parties and live life to the fullest which will have the greatest effect on them all.
Travel Guide
Wiltshire
From the moment you step through the door at Milton Magna, the 1950s burst into life.
The two settings, the grand house and the jumbled eccentric flat of Aunt Clare evoke the 1950s well.The crumbling Milton Magna is gothic and flamboyant -It’s supposed to be quite the most magnificent building in the West county…
“Magna sits like sapphire among the trees – part birthday cake, part ocean lines, part sculpture, part skeleton: a magnificent, ostentatious chunk of history..”
Could it be like Old Wardour Castle as this was a place renowned for lavish parties apparently.
Oh and her study! There were books, books and more book,s stacked in random piles all over the floor and spilling off the shelves…
London
Then there are the parties in London – Jonnie Ray, the popstar is all the rage and Penelope is a huge fan. The youth of England are bursting with life and the sense of adventure. Elvis Presley is a young up and coming singer in the United States. But this is also a time where there is magic in the air too. Charlotte’s brother Harry is a magician, loves jazz and sitting back enjoying a drink and a smoke dreaming of his unsuitable American girl. He takes Penelope to parties meant to make this girl jealous.And we all know how games of that nature often play out!
This is the time to live life to the fullest,dance to Elvis Presley and sing at the top of your voice to the tunes of Johnnie Ray (for who Penelope goes to Hyde Park and dreams of ), with your polka dots skirt and your Mary Janes…or is that just us?
Where Next?
