Brilliant Aunt Maude visits seasides the world over and has become quite the pebble collector. Pebbles of all shapes, sizes and colours and even one that looked a bit like Elvis Presley if you squinted a bit.

Her favourite pebbles, however, are Marigold, Mabel and Morris. One by one, and by strange and unusual ways, each child arrives at the stage door of Brilliant Aunt Maude’s theatre in the heart of London, home to an extraordinary cast of performers. There’s Dante the miraculous magician, Petunia the storyteller and seventy-year-old contortionists – the Fortune Sisters! But ticket sales are dwindling and the curtains might have to close – for the final time.

Until one day, as the Pebbles are exploring the many nooks and crannies of the theatre, they stumble upon something they were never meant to find . . . something that just might save the theatre after all . . .

‘Taking Noel Streatfeild’s classic children’s novel Ballet Shoes as its jumping off point, Fletcher’s beguiling tale of stage school kids with big dreams brings the magic of the theatre vibrantly to life.’
Waterstones