"Deep in the woods, a young boy is kept prisoner by his uncle. He cannot meet other children, or have any friends, He holds the key to a secret.

Meanwhile, in a quiet village, Frans the schoolteacher invents stories of perilous deeds, shipwrecks, desert islands, and haunted castles to entertain his pupils. Then one stormy evening a letter blows onto his doormat, summoning him to a meeting.

Suddenly, Frans is on a real-life mission, one in which he will encounter magicians, secret passages, conspiracies, hidden treasure and a sealed parchment which predicts the future.

He will learn the secret of the Seven Ways. He will find seven allies. And he will make a fearsome enemy, The adventure has begun..."

Taking this to the convention in Mainz, as part of the Dutch raffle prize.

I read this book in Dutch as a child and I really hope the translation does it justice!

I won the famous Dutch raffle prize!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful goodies - I'm so delighted! Just unpacked my suitcase after coming back home from those lovely Convention days in Mainz, and piled up the booty on the table.
Tonke Dragt's De brief voor de koning / The Letter for the King (of course I read Der Brief für den König) was one of my favourite books as a child. I also remember Geheimen van het Wilde Woud / The Secrets of the Wild Wood / Der Wilde Wald, and that I was totally fascinated with De torens van februari / Die Türme des Februar, which became another favourite of mine back then.

Published in the 60s it is very much a product of that time - where children get a good hiding (or are at least threatened with it) and only boys have adventures. But apart from that it was an enjoyable read (that I should have had 40 years earlier though).
Frans is a very unlikely main protagonist for a children's book - an adult. But an interesting one, always going from self-doubt to authoritarian behaviour and back. And there are more than enough lovely (some less so) odd characters (and a great cat), mysterious locations (I'd like to explore that house...) and a plot with many riddles, clues and twists.
Thanks again!

Released at the 2019 UK UnConvention in Northampton.
Part of the Dutch Raffle Prize (again!)
Happy reading!

I won this in the raffle prize! Some delicious goodies were in my prize and I have enjoyed them very much so far, not even very squashed either after applying Tetris logic to the loading up of the car boot with lots of cases and books! What a wonderful weekend, lots of fun and laughter:0)