A Posy For Poll

Belinda Bailey is the new girl at Hedingway School. When she wins the leading role in the school play, she is plagued by jealous whispers from classmates. Her relationship with Steve Winters, captain of the football team, leading male in the play and heart throb of year ten, increases the hostility surrounding Belinda. When rehearsals for the play begin, events take a sinister turn. Belinda plays the part of Polly Miles, a young girl from Hedingway's past, who disappeared after a masked ball at the castle. Polly never returned home. When the ice thawed in the lake, her body was found floating in the water, still dressed in her scarlet gown. Belinda learns that Polly was buried at a crossroads outside the village and that someone still leaves a posy of flowers on her grave every Halloween. Strange and hostile influences surround Belinda's new life and her efforts to make friends are frustrated when it seems there is hardly anyone she can trust. The play and Polly's mysterious end appear to be seeping into the very fabric of her own life and taking it over. A poison pen campaign against her culminates in a dramatic encounter in the castle ruins when Belinda finally learns the truth behind her own story and that of long dead Polly Miles.