Publisher's Synopsis
Dreamy tomboy, Laila meets Cyril, a rebellious gnome and passes through a charmed gate into the Wolf Garden. Here, she does battle with the shape-shifter Smarm and his army of wolves. When Smarm captures her gnome friends and steals the magic strawbs, Laila and Cyril help the Mistress Dido win them back.
A Cautionary Note
When you enter the Garden, inevitably, and perhaps none too surprisingly, you will find that you leave something behind. When you are in the Garden, you may find - to your surprise or indeed unwittingly - something different. That something different you may take out of the Garden if you so please. Some people may be lost in the Garden. And yet some people may find themselves in the Garden. Others may leave the Garden and never come back. Not all people will remember the Garden. Although if they do, they may find they will be curiously, indeed remarkably enriched by having visited it.
From Mr. Whizz's Notebook: Concerning the Garden, a thing rarum.
***
It was a matter of some urgency; a wolf was loose in the woods. And being loose in the woods, he could get into the garden.
"Whatever you do," said Dad. "Don't go out the gate. You don't want the wolf to eat you."
"By the way," said Mum, "don't forget to take your apple."
She went out the door, but the wolf was already in the garden.
She turned tail and ran.
"I must reach the Beech House," she told herself. "It won't get me in the Beech House."
The wolf snapped at her heels as she scampered up the tree and onto the platform of the Beech House.
After a while, the wolf went away. She climbed down from the tree and ran back towards the house, but the wolf was waiting for her.
"There you are!" he cried. "I was wondering where you got to."
"What are you doing here?" she said. "This is my garden."
"It may be your garden," said the wolf. "But once I turn you, you'll be in my garden."
