- John Tarrow
A Young Adult fantasy adventure inspired by 'Britain’s Most Extraordinary Home', Talliston House & Gardens
If you’re the kind of person who has fallen in love with a Grimm’s fairy tale, delighted over Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, or dreamed of flying with Peter Pan to Neverland, you’ve arrived at the right doorway. Talliston is a place you’ve only ever seen in your dreams; a world of magic and imagination like nowhere else on earth. A house where Time never treads….
DANGEROUS BUILDING. KEEP OUT!
Abandoned and alone, thirteen-year-old Joe’s world is shattered when he enters a deserted council house and becomes trapped within a labyrinth protecting the last magical places on earth. There, Joe discovers The Stranger’s Guide, a cryptic book charting this immense no-man’s land and his only map through its dark and dangerous puzzle of doors and rooms. Hunted by sinister foes, Joe is forced ever deeper into both the maze and the mystery of his missing parents. What lies at the labyrinth’s centre and will it reunite him with the family he so desperately needs?
Equal parts Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, His Dark Materials and The Lion, Witch And The Wardrobe, The Stranger’s Guide To Talliston is a classic tale of adventure that introduces readers to an otherworld hiding in plain sight, cloaked in magic and steeped in imagined history. Yet beyond its fearsome huntsmen and battling magicians lies the story of children discovering the secret that lies within all of us – the power to live extraordinary lives.
A FANTASTICAL JOURNEY
The setting for this novel is a real-life house that's been on quite an extraordinary journey itself. It began in 1990, with the UK’s most ordinary house: a three-bedroomed, semi-detached, ex-council house in Essex. Over the next 25 years, more than 130 volunteers, artists and artisans transformed it into Talliston House & Gardens. Now that Talliston is internationally famous and dubbed 'Britain’s Most Extraordinary Home' (The Sunday Times), it has inspired this amazing adventure.
THE TALLISTON FELLOWSHIP
Talliston is an exploration of the concept of the extraordinary within the ordinary. It’s about realising how we each have inside us the power to be whatever we want and to live any life we can imagine. Already the house is a thriving community of writers, artists and artisans – and appeals to anyone who yearns an escape from the mundane modern world into a life made magical.
John Tarrow is an English novelist, poet, storyteller and award-winning writer. His fascination with folk and faerie tales has taken him around the world, gathering threads of story and legend to weave into his own mythologies. His extensive studies in Lakota Sioux and Druidic traditions offer readers stories resonant with magic, folklore and the wonders of the natural world. His collaboration with Talliston House & Gardens weaves together its 13 rooms into a rich narrative and introduces us to an ordinary boy who discovers the secret to achieving the extraordinary.
On the night of the attack, his father’s last words to him were “Go, son, run! Go to the hideout and never look back. We’ll get there when we can.” Joe had done as he said, and he hadn’t seen them since. That was a very long time ago, but as he had no electricity to power anything, he didn’t know the date, and sometimes not even the day of the week. The boy could not be certain how long he had been living rough in the bus. All summer at least. Not that time actually mattered in his life. Now there was just the light and the dark. He got up when he woke and went to bed when it got too dark to see or do anything. Joe spent every night fearing his parents would ever come back for him.
And every day Joe spent following The Rules.
To keep him safe, his father had made his son memorise a whole heap of dos and don’ts. This wasn’t the usual things like ‘Always Eat At The Table’ and ‘Don’t Jump On The Sofas’. This was strange stuff like, ‘Formulate Contingency Escape Routes’ and ‘If It Howls, Feed It’. Over time, Joe had simplified that list and now it looked like this:
RULE #1: NOWHERE IS SAFE.
RULE #2: ALWAYS HAVE A WAY OUT.
RULE #3: BE INVISIBLE.
RULE #4: DON’T MAKE FRIENDS.
RULE #5: DO NOT TALK TO DEAD PEOPLE.
Then there was the most important rule of all. The One Rule To Ring Them All. The rule Joe must never break.
A GOOD BOY TAKES HIS MEDICINE.
Joe had been born sick. He had a rare disease that had a very long name and meant that if the boy placed too much strain on his body, his heart would break and he would die. To treat this condition, Joe had a bottle of medication that he had to take every thirteen hours. No matter if it was midnight or breakfast or when Joe was in the bath or taking a dump. Joe wore a clockwork timer around his neck and when the countdown reached zero, wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he had to take his medication. It was another rule on top of all the other rules. The rules that governed every day of his stupid existence. Joe lived his life by these two truths: The Rules kept him safe and The Medicine kept him alive.
Which had been all well and good until today. Because this afternoon he had drained the last mouthful of the thick, white, foul-tasting liquid. Now the ribbed brown bottle was empty and he had to get some more. Automatically Joe had twisted the timer back to thirteen and it began its countdown, quietly ticking away his final hours.
EXPLORING THE THREE CORE PRINCIPLES OF THE STRANGER'S GUIDE TO TALLISTON
Friday, 24 August 2018
With the story & development edit done, cover briefed and the copy edit in progress, The Stranger's Guide To Talliston is well on its way for publication. While we work to make this special edition of the book, I wanted to share the core tenets or principles behind Joe's journey through the labyrinth. To illustrate these, here are three pages from the recent talk I gave at the Finchingfield Guidhall…
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WANT TO READ THE ACTUAL STRANGER’S GUIDE? HERE’S YOUR CHANCE!
Tuesday, 3 July 2018
Help The Stranger’s Guide To Talliston reach 125% funding and everyone who has pledged receives the complete text of the guidebook as an exclusive free gift!
On 20th July 2018, Netflix launches a new 12-part interior design series, Amazing Interiors to its subscribers – and Talliston House & Gardens is proud to be featured in the line up of the most fantastical properties from around the world…
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LOCATIONS FROM THE STRANGER'S GUIDE TO TALLISTON
Tuesday, 19 June 2018
It has been a busy two months since we hit 100% as the grand task of novel development with the publisher, editors and the creative team continues. Golden labyrinths are being designed, the story has undergone a professional edit, and whispers of cover designs are being heard. At this stage a publication date is not far from being announced – and here at Talliston we have been busy contacting all…
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WE ARE AT 100%!
Sunday, 1 April 2018
A great big thank you to everyone who has supported The Stranger’s Guide To Talliston.
To those who pledged for a book.
To those who shared, blogged, tweeted and otherwise spread the word around the globe.
To those who volunteered to help run events to raise money, or tell stories, or bake pizzas from scratch.
To those groups and associations who invited me to come and speak to…
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PAGES FROM THE STRANGER'S GUIDE: A SHORT SURVIVAL GUIDE
Friday, 30 March 2018
After the sensational news that The Stranger’s Guide to Talliston has reached 83% funding today, there is ever more necessity to quickly prepare you, Gentle Reader, for your imminent journey into the dark and dangerous labyrinth of the house & gardens. So, without further bluster...
Click here to explore the labyrinth of the house and gardens.
+++WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU BECOME LOST IN THE WORLDS…
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PAGES FROM THE STRANGER'S GUIDE: ENTERING THE LABYRINTH
Wednesday, 14 March 2018
And so the time approaches for your first journey into the timeless no-man's land that lies within Talliston. Here are a few more words of wisdom for that journeying from The Stranger's Guide...
+++PREPARING FOR YOUR JOURNEY+++
Before entering the immortal labyrinth of the house it is essential that you spend time in preparation for your adventuring. Think of this as with the same respect as…
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PAGES FROM THE STRANGER'S GUIDE: IN PREPARATION FOR YOUR JOURNEY
Thursday, 1 March 2018
As we race to our halfway milestone, I thought it about time to start preparing you, gentle reader, for your eventual journey into the dark and dangerous labyrinth of the house & gardens. And where better to start than the pages of The Stranger's Guide itself. After all, this mysterious guidebook was written for this exact purpose.
For these updates, I want to look at the guidebook Joe finds within…
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STORIES & PIZZA at TALLISTON HOUSE & GARDENS
Friday, 23 February 2018
Our two favourite things. In one fabulous evening.
On Saturday 10 March 2018 from 18:00 at Talliston, CM6 1DU, join your personal storyteller and other guests for a creative journey through the extraordianry house of the novel. In certain rooms, tales are told and when you get to the kitchen you eat delicious homemade pizza. Limited to 20 places. Half already booked.
THE STORIES
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A BIG THANKS TO THE EARLY SUPPORTERS!
Thursday, 8 February 2018
Just hit 9%! Wonderful, as we really haven't even started to get this out there! Please share and help me make it to 10% by the end of our first week.
It would also help a lot to get people sharing the book link on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, your own personal networks, and with anyone who you think might be interested in reading such a book – this really helps to spread the word.
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These people are helping to fund The Stranger's Guide to Talliston.
