Brief

Two sisters, quite comfortable in their dull upper-class lives, are thrown into disarray by the death of their grandmother and caretaker, Lady Emma. The girls find a magical way to escape into the paintings that hang in their mansion. As they face the challenges of the different times and places, the story takes the sisters, and the audience, on a tale of discovery and personal growth.

What We Liked

This is a story about kids on a fantastical and surreal adventure. The girls discover worlds within the
paintings created by their late grandmother that are original and engaging. There are plenty of
obstacles for the sisters to overcome, both physically and emotionally. The characters are interesting
and the monsters are imaginative. Some of them will be familiar to audiences, like dragons, while
other mythical beasts will leave much room to play with. The biggest mystery behind it all is
discovering who their grandmother really is. The story has visual appeal for the small or big screen,
with great characters to weave it all together.
Film: Between the multiple books in the series and the large-scale fantasy settings, it would be a
natural fit for the big screen. Two inquisitive young girls, their lives in danger, will keep audiences on
the edge of their seats, as will the mystery of who their beloved grandmother really is.
TV: A series would benefit from the multiple cliffhangers and tension between each of the episodes.
There are plenty of new and exciting things around the corner that would keep audiences ready to
tune in to another episode. The two adventurous female leads are engaging and they could inspire a
large fanbase.

Synopsis

In a mansion in Victorian England, Lady Emma cares for her two grandchildren, Suzannah and Sophie.
Life is idyllic until she suddenly dies. The girls are sequestered to their rooms but decide to sneak out
to do some investigating. After going down to the wine cellar, they find a secret door that leads to a
gigantic gallery of chandelier-lit paintings. Wondering how they’ve never known about this place
before, they each absentmindedly touch a painting. From this simple action, the unexpected happens:
They get sucked into the frame.
The girls are initially separated and then reunited by Aleck, their grandmother's right-hand man, who
promises to answer all of their questions. He tells them that the paintings give way to worlds
architected by their grandmother, and that she has laid out a quest in order for the girls to find her,
still alive. To get there, Suzannah and Sophie must find seven objects in different worlds. There are
hundreds of worlds out there, so they fly across them in Aleck’s hot-air balloon.
Back at the mansion, Ms. Plumless, the housekeeper, discovers the girls are missing and loops in a
detective. They find the hidden room with the paintings and are also transported into the magical
worlds. They soon find themselves in danger against a humanoid monster, but the girls save the duo
with their dragon friends. Ms. Plumlee demands an explanation but Aleck won’t give her one; instead,
he gives them sleep-inducing cookies to keep the girls on their journey. Aleck explains that the worlds
their grandmother created aren’t all peaceful because she had sorrow in her life, as manifested in her
paintings.
The girls get caught up in the dangers of the different places and are often in mortal danger; despite
these challenges, they believe in their grandmother's faith and overcome obstacles to solve the
mystery. After a large "sea battle" in a world of floating islands, Sophie is taken by a giant monster to
another world. Despite the danger, Suzannah resolves to save her sister and prepares herself for this
new quest, to be continued in a further iteration of the story.

About The Author

Lauren Massuda holds a Bachelor's degree in English with a creative writing concentration. She has recently completed the second book about the journey of the two sisters, Secrets That Children Keep, and will be writing the third one soon.