Eudora Honeysett has lived a full life, and witnessed the indignities and suffering of old age. At eighty-five, her end will be on her terms. A call to a clinic in Switzerland sets the plan in motion. Then she meets ten-year-old Rose Trewidney, a pint-sized rainbow of color and sparkling cheer. Eudora finds herself embarking on a series of adventures with Rose and their neighbor, the recently widowed Stanley. Eudora is reminded of her own childhood--...

When Olive Wellwood's oldest son discovers a runaway named Philip sketching in the basement of the new Victoria and Albert Museum--a talented working-class boy who could be a character out of one of Olive's magical tales--she takes him into the storybook world of her family and friends--a world that conceals more treachery and darkness than Philip has ever imagined and that will soon be eclipsed by far greater forces.