About the ledger

What this is

Beneath a hedge at the back of a shared green, a small country goes about its business: tending mushrooms, keeping records and disagreeing. Beyond the hedge are a tall building of flats and a world built for much larger feet.

The story begins on a wet night, with a stranger at the gate. Grizel keeps the record.

How to read it

A fantasy novel told a page a day for a year. Each page follows a day in the hollow and is published on its morning. Begin with Day One and read forward. A page takes about as long as a cup of something; the longer Sunday chapters may call for a second cup.

The archive keeps every published page in order. The glossary lets you choose the last day you have finished, so its definitions stay at your place in the story.

If you would like the pages by email, start with Day One and receive the next page each morning. Readers who are already caught up can choose the next published page instead. The box is at the foot of this page.

Begin at the gate

The two peoples

Grumlins are the people of the ground: small, sturdy and bearded, with hats and substantial boots.

Fliskies are the winged people of the hedge. They come in an assortment of sizes, colours and temperaments.

Faces of the hollow

The newcomer

A young stranger in an oversized coat, with hair the colour of wet bracken.

Grizel

The keeper of the ledger. Tall for a grumlin, with a thin grey beard, spectacles on a string and a very large book.

Mungo

The sentry at the gate. Broad shoulders, large boots, a red felt hat with its point folded back, and a lantern.

Nettie

The mushroom farmer. Round and sturdy, with a long beard braided with acorns.

Wick

The tinker. A thin grumlin with jam-jar-lid goggles over his hat and tools tucked into his beard.

Tansy

A tiny fliskie with moth-like wings and a remarkable number of pockets.

Lady Pettigrew

An envoy of the Court of the Fliskies. Upright, elaborately collared, with wings of lilac, rose and green.

Mothy

A large, soft, dust-coloured fliskie with broad wings.

Sorrel

The scout. An angular fliskie with a thorn on a cord and wings going brown at the edges.