Ballad of Favour

It is late September and, with the summer season ending, the life at the Wood Briar Hotel slows down. Rose Wood goes back to school, but she still helps with running of the hotel on the weekends, when those seeking a break from the city life visit her parents' country guesthouse. Rose misses the summer buzz and her freedom from school, and with several weeks passing by quietly since her last magical adventure with the Great Gray Horse she worries that her mission as the messenger of this ancient, brave horse is over.But when the mysterious composer, Mr Vingo, returns to the hotel, Favour, the Great Gray Horse reappears and Rose is summoned for another mission. This time she travels to an abandoned house in a town nearby where a forlorn family tries to survive their hardships. Will Rose and the horse be able to help them? Will Rose resist the temptation to share her secret with her friends, Abigail and Ben? She can only stay the messenger of the horse if she is brave and works undiscovered... But as Rose's supernatural mission becomes more challenging and scary, her everyday life in the Wood Briar Hotel becomes also more complicated. She does not seem to get along with her father anymore and, with a big wedding party coming up, the Wood family must work in unison.The "Ballad of Favour," first published in 1985, is the second book in the four-part fantasy adventure about Rose and the magical Great Grey Horse. Here, Monica Dickens reveals another thread of the exciting legend of the cruel Lord of the Moor, alongside Rose's mission to protect innocent people from misery; but she also explores, with delicacy and a sense of humor, problems experienced by early teens on their way to adulthood.