"All the things I liked about trees you couldn't do with a monkey puzzle" The boxy, spiky monkey puzzle tree stands tall and imposing outside the dormitory window of Woodmaston House For Girls, a forbidding guardian to the school's young charges. Nancy Cameron is a new arrival, not just to the Woodmaston but to England. She's rolled up from the backwoods of Canada, eager for a new life brimming with adventure. But boarding school isn't the Famous Five fantasy that Nancy had imagined. It is an austere, loveless world where budding relationships are soon put to the test. Nancy wins friends and finds solace by telling stories after lights-out, where each girl in her dorm takes centre-stage.: Sharon Downey marries Cliff Richard, Caroline Bigfoot's gorgeous brother conquers Everest. But spinning stories for others can't hide the fact that Nancy feels horribly alone inside. And when she leads her dorm in a special fund raising event that goes tragically wrong things go from bad to worse. Nancy longs to meet Caroline's brother for real, and as her troubles build it's an encounter that can't come soon enough - until a shocking revelation comes to light...