The temples of Malplaquet - Andrew Dalton

They are becoming livelier and they live in magical temples, deep in the heart of the English countryside. This is no ordinary secret which can be ignored by thirteen-year-old Jamie, appointed as 'Assistant Guide' by Granny, the protector, to take care of the curious 'little people'. Follow Jamie in The Temples of Malplaquet, the first in a trilogy, which draws inspiration from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Mistress Masham's Repose by T.H. White, and the beautiful and mysterious 18th Century Landscape Gardens at Stowe. Meet intriguing and vividly painted characters along the journey, such as Nigriff, the six-inch high Senior Imperial Archivist and Elysian, Horatius Gratton, the frustrated owner of an incompetent flat-coated Retriever called Hobbes, and General Thorclan, leader of the Grecian army. Another world, even a whole Empire is discovered among the temples in a garden, occupied by Malplaquet School. Can Jamie bring this concealed kingdom back into safety?

Andrew Dalton, a former teacher of Religious Studies, History and Latin, has had a life-long fascination for eccentric architecture, from grottoes to ruins, alongside the history of gardens and landscapes. A pivotal moment for the creation of The Temples of Malplaquet was a weekend spent in the Gothic Temple at Stowe Gardens. The Author lives in Buckinghamshire, is married and has three children.