The Happiness Thief
Magic has never been so frightening
Within a Dickensian fairytale world, ten year old Emily Goodchilde’s happy childhood takes a drastic turn for the worse when the arrival of a mysterious children’s plague coincides with her father’s untimely death.
Struggling to cope with her loss, she inadvertently allows her younger brother to fall victim, not to the children’s plague, as adults would believe, but to a mischievious and frightening magical man. He violently steals the boys happiness by sucking golden liquid out of his heart with a magical glass straw.
Horrified at what she has witnessed Emily tries to warn the town folk, but nobody will believe her, not even her grieving mother. Frustrated and riddled with guilt Emily runs away on a quest to find the identity of this horrible thief. She promises her little brother, now a frozen wide-eyed husk, that she will get his happiness back no matter what it takes.
On her travels Emily enlists the help of a frail old curiosity shop owner and two orphans from the street. Together they learn that the Happiness Thief is in fact Irvin Whittlestick the once famous ringmaster of The Amazing Magical Whittlestick Circus who disappeared more than 100 years ago. However Emily soon finds he is an incredibly difficult man to bargain with.
Emily and her new found friends form a plan to trick the HappinessThief into giving her brothers happiness back but they are soon foiled by the notorious Scuttle Brothers who are helping the magical man find more happy children in return for gold.
Emily believes that if happiness is keeping the Thief alive then perhaps tears could destroy him. She convinces one of the last happy children in town to seek out the Scuttle Brothers. She conceals a hot water bottle full of tears under his vest before he is kidnapped. To her surprise the tears have no effect on the Happiness Thief and one by one her friends soon fall victim to the gangly trickster. It seems all hope is lost.
Emily decides to confront the Happiness Thief face to face at the top of the towns clock tower. She bravely offers her happiness in exchange for her friends. The Thief just laughs at her with amazement, explaining she is the most miserable girl he has ever met. “Well then make me happy!” she retourts. As a born entertainer, it is a challenge the Happiness Thief cannot refuse, but instead of sucking happiness from Emily’s heart he sucks out only her misery and is quickly posioned. Unable to control his convulsions, he stumbles off the clock tower falling to his death. As his body hits the ground it explodes, sending hundreds of glowing happiness orbs into the night sky. They return to the hearts of all the sick children in the town. One of whom is Emily’s little brother.
(Family/Fantasy/Fairytale) To read the first ten pages, click here
