Book description
The label on the bottle reads 'There be a witch in here. Let her out
and there be a peck of trouble'. But Mike is always trying to emulate
his impulsive sister or his responsible brother. Then his friend Lee
swears he sees something fly out of the bottle, and Mike decides to open
it again. Out flows an extraordinary tableau - a Fire King astride a
stallion, and a beautiful woman in a bower of flowers - the archetypes
of Yin and Yang in terrible conflict. Mike, seeing that he can tip the
balance, throws his lot in with the king. When things go wrong in the
real world, Mike returns to his vision, to find that the Fire King has
wreaked havoc. He changes his allegiance to the Lady - and sinks into a
deep depression. Slowly he learns that the answer lies not in choosing
the power of fire or of water, Yin or Yang, his sister's or brother's
way - but in the eternal dance between them. Judy Allen's Awaiting
Developments won the Whitbread Award, the Friends of the Earth Earthworm
Award, and was commended for the Carnegie Medal. Author of more than 30
books for children published to critical acclaim - and frequently
reaching prize short-lists - she also writes for radio; 5 plays for BBC
Radio 4, dramatisations of The Secret Garden, Tom's Midnight Garden, and
Philippa Pearce for BBC Radio. Her award-winning adult fiction December
Flower was televised by Granada in 1985, adapted for BBC Radio and
televised in US.
