Helen Menzies – Ducks Crossing and the Secret Shadow

It’s June 2nd 1953, the day of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth the Second, in Westminster Abbey in London. The people of Ducks Crossing, 12,000 miles away in Australia, are celebrating.

Twins Meg and Chaz have left behind them an England still gloomy after the end of the World War to spend the school holidays with their cousins Alison and The Hawk, and of course Spike the dog, in Ducks Crossing.

Meg and Chaz arrived in Ducks Crossing by ferry. Everyone comes to Ducks Crossing by water. Acksherly (as The Hawk would say) there is a road, just one, but it winds its way down “Mount Everest” in devils elbows and zigzags. It’s too dangerous to use. Except that one day.

Who are the mysterious men on the motorcycle? What are they looking for? Who is looking for them? What are they up to while the four cousins, and Spike,are preparing for the Billycart Derby against their sworn enemies, the Templetons?

And what is the Secret Shadow that haunts everyone in Ducks Crossing?