“Roses are red, violets are blue. It’s not quite dead, just like you.” What was the meaning of Desmond’s childish rhyme, phoned to his sisters just days before his death? What unnamed ‘treasure’ of great value did Bella’s crazy great-uncle Desmond bequeath to his family? In a posthumous letter to be hand-delivered to Bella’s great-aunts, Gilead missionaries just returned from Peru to Cornwall, England, Desmond Wildeve spoke of a priceless object hidden in the vast, cluttered family mansion - a mansion no one had been admitted in for nearly fifty years. And he gave them only one clue to start the hunt : another childish rhyme. Taking on the challenge, Bella, with the help of family, friends, and eccentric villagers, searches for the meanings to the childish rhymes hidden throughout the mansion by her great-uncle. The search leads Bella into comically bizarre situations, including wrestling with mummies, hidden passages, and genealogical secrets as she plays charades with a lunatic from beyond the grave.
“Checkmate to the black king...” begins the eerie missive found by Bella. It had been hidden in a pub’s wall along with a cache of toys, a child’s clothes, and a century-old photograph of two children, one of whom is a little boy holding the same doll found in the wall with the note. Who, or what, is the black king, and why is the writer of the message frightened for their life? Who are the children in the photograph? What is the link between the hidden items and a chess game? And most puzzling of all, how is it possible that the abandoned hundred-year-old doll is familiar to members of Bella’s family? Using forgotten photographs, memories, and the game of chess, Bella and her friend Tamsin learn the secrets of the doll in the wall.
It was to be an idyllic Greek holiday, courtesy of Albert and Violet, retired field agents for MI6. But, when the Frenchman entered the picture, not to mention the bipolar policeman and Serbian acrobats, everything changed. Instead of fleeing to safety, Bella ends up trapped on the naturists' island of Gavdos. She becomes ensnared in kidnapping, smuggling, and in trying to understand the puzzling brass key that will save them all...
When Bella is anonymously sent the photograph of a cafe with the words, 'This is the key, ' penned on the back, she travels to Italy to discover why. A key to what? Why is she being shadowed? And, what does it have to do with a dangerous riddle set out during WWII? Follow Bella and her friends on their farcical scramble across Italy to uncover a thrilling secret that had been hidden for centuries.
“Checkmate to the black king...” begins the eerie missive found by Bella. It had been hidden in a pub’s wall along with a cache of toys, a child’s clothes, and a century-old photograph of two children, one of whom is a little boy holding the same doll found in the wall with the note. Who, or what, is the black king, and why is the writer of the message frightened for their life? Who are the children in the photograph? What is the link between the hidden items and a chess game? And most puzzling of all, how is it possible that the abandoned hundred-year-old doll is familiar to members of Bella’s family? Using forgotten photographs, memories, and the game of chess, Bella and her friend Tamsin learn the secrets of the doll in the wall.
“Roses are red, violets are blue. It’s not quite dead, just like you.” What was the meaning of Desmond’s childish rhyme, phoned to his sisters just days before his death? What unnamed ‘treasure’ of great value did Bella’s crazy great-uncle Desmond bequeath to his family? In a posthumous letter to be hand-delivered to Bella’s great-aunts, Gilead missionaries just returned from Peru to Cornwall, England, Desmond Wildeve spoke of a priceless object hidden in the vast, cluttered family mansion - a mansion no one had been admitted in for nearly fifty years. And he gave them only one clue to start the hunt : another childish rhyme. Taking on the challenge, Bella, with the help of family, friends, and eccentric villagers, searches for the meanings to the childish rhymes hidden throughout the mansion by her great-uncle. The search leads Bella into comically bizarre situations, including wrestling with mummies, hidden passages, and genealogical secrets as she plays charades with a lunatic from beyond the grave.
Through art, Thea Kay Leopoulos earned who she was and helped others feel their own true worth. Tragically, she was killed by a drunk driver at the end of her junior year. "A Rain Falling Star" is a selection of entries taken from her journal interspersed with family photographs and her artwork.
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