Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy

Ophelia’s mother died three months ago. Her father has taken a job in a faraway city where it always snows. He is a famous sword specialist who is helping to prepare a special exhibition of swords at the city museum. He has brought his two daughter’s with him, and hopes that this change will help with their grief.

Ophelia is fascinated by the museum but repelled by the museum curator, Miss Kaminski, who is beautiful but cruel. Ophelia wanders the museum, looking for curiosities, but instead, she finds a young boy who has been imprisoned by the Snow Queen for three-hundred-and-three years. He is called the Marvellous Boy, and he is looking for the magical sword and the Other One, who can  defeat the evil Snow Queen. At first, Ophelia doesn’t believe the Marvellous Boy, but gradually as she tries to free him she realises that the magical world he talks about is real. Ophelia needs to find the key to the Marvellous Boy’s prison, the magical sword and the Other One, but time is running out, and there are only three days left to save the world.

Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy is a story which pays homage to Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen. In it, Ophelia is like Gerda and the Marvellous Boy is like a good version of Kai. However, the story has been updated to modern times and an unnamed city, where the quest takes a different form. It is a lyrical fantasy, with more than a touch of magical realism, that is both engaging and evocative.