Maddy Alone

The second book in the Blue Door series, following on from The Swish of the Curtain, the classic story which inspired actors from Maggie Smith to Eileen Atkins

“I wanted to act before I read this book, and afterwards there was no stopping me” Maggie Smith

All that lay ahead were examinations and then the blankness of the holidays. For the hundredth time Maddy thought, ‘Oh, why am I only twelve? Why do the others always do all the exciting things before me?’

Stuck at home while the older members of the Blue Door Theatre Company attend London’s Actors’ Guild, Maddy is lonely and frustrated. Under some gentle advice from the Bishop, she finds her way onto the set of a film being shot at a local castle, and works her usual charm on the cast and crew.

But will this opportunity realise Maddy’s dreams of becoming an actress — or will it end her career before it has even begun?

Pamela Brown (1924–1989) was a British writer, actor then television producer. She was just fourteen when she started writing her first book, and the town of Fenchester in the book is inspired by her home town of Colchester. During the Second World War, she went to live in Wales, so The Swish of the Curtain was not published until 1941, when she was sixteen. She used the earnings from the books to train at RADA, and became an actor and a producer of children''s television programmes.