The cloud forest

Andrew Badger's life has not been happy. Taken from an orphanage and adopted by a woman teacher, twelve-year-old Andrew lives uneasily as the only boy in a girls' boarding school in England. He himself attends a school for local boys and girls in a nearby town, but his free time is spent at Searly House, where his "Aunt Badger" teaches and where he is expected to make himself very scarce indeed. Marion Badger shows no fondness for her adopted son, who grows more and more unhappy and withdrawn. He is especially reluctant to go to Annerlie Hall, on old manor house on the edge of the school grounds, where Sir Edward Annerlie lives with his invalid brother. The headmistress of the school, Miss Spencer, often sends Andrew to deliver a message to Sir Edward. In Annerlie Hall, Andrew senses a strangeness—an evil presence, almost—which makes him feel uncomfortable. Andrew's life changes for the better when, by chance, he meets Ronnie Peters, a student at Searly House, a girl who is quite content to be what Miss Spencer calls "an odd child." Ronnie takes an immediate interest in Andrew and his problems. Together they become involved in a strange search for Andrew's identity and for the meaning of experiences beyond their comprehension—a search in which they are guided by some who wish them well and hindered by others who wish them ill.