Lizzy Albright and the Attic Window

Book excerpt: Lizzy Albright and the Attic WindowSummaryThe mage council in the Kingdom of Ailear is up in arms over a sorceress who has assembled an army of grackles. She is invincible. They decide their highest priority is to find a missing princess that was taken to another world far away.It's Christmas Eve 1964 and Lizzy Albright is celebrating her 10th birthday with her family in Overland Park, Kansas. Later that day the family make a journey to Cordelia, Kansas to spend Christmas week in the old family mansion with Lizzy's granny, Esther McHale.That night, Lizzy discovers an old quilt in a secret drawer of the cedar chest in the attic. The names of the quilt blocks spark her imagination. She is allowed to sleep under the quilt but is awoken by a tapping noise. She discovers a goose outside the attic window as a winter storm is raging. The goose urges Lizzy to come with her because their kingdom has befallen a curse. The goose believes that Lizzy is the lost princess and is the only one who can break the curse.In the Kingdom of Ailear, we learn that Calixta, a sorceress, and Beatrice, the queen, are related. Beatrice is barren and desperately wants a child. Calixta assists by making a fertility potion, with the caveat that Queen Beatrice's first grandchild is handed over to the sorceress.Beatrice has her child and years pass. The royal grandchild is born, Beatrice has schemed to betray Calixta by sending the child with a goose through the Tunnel of Stars. The sorceress returns and puts the Groaning Stone Curse on the castle and its inhabitants and informs everyone that the only one who can reverse the curse is the royal child.For ten years the mages are doing what they must in order to find the child, but also find a way to save her from the hands of the sorceress. The plot ultimately succeeds and the kingdom is saved. There are unexpected plot twists that are revealed during the final chapters of the story.Ricky Tims - Kat Bowser 2020