Eliza & Matty and the Big Stinky Cloud
A magical adventure about kindness, courage and a very unusual cloud.
Merry-Dew Land!
Welcome to Merry-Dew Land – a place of bustling towns, sleepy villages and hidden magical forests.
When a giant stinky cloud plunges the land into gloom, it falls to two brave twins, Eliza and Matty, to follow a mysterious quest, restore the sunshine and remind everyone that a little kindness can change everything.
Perfect for confident readers and bedtime stories, especially for children aged around 7–10.
The Story
Merry-Dew Land is a little magical country where town folk, villagers and farming folk live side by side. Most people have long since stopped believing in magic – they think themselves far too clever for such things. Only the farming folk remember the old spells and the whispered tales of mysterious Forest Folk hidden deep in the dark woods.
Unbeknown to the rest of Merry-Dew Land, in a tiny hamlet tucked inside the forest lives a pair of magical twins – Eliza and Matty. They attend a special school for magical children, where broomsticks, potions and talking trees are part of everyday life.
One day, during a game of hide-and-seek, the enchanted forest gently nudges Eliza and Matty onto a quest that leads them far from home. Along the way they bring good fortune to Sunshine Farm, help in the village shop in Little Munching and befriend Colin the Dwarf, a cobbler with secrets of his own.
Their travels eventually take them to Moretown, the biggest town in Merry-Dew Land, which has been trapped for months under a huge black stinky cloud. With daylight fading and tempers fraying, it seems nothing can lift the gloom – until the Mayor reluctantly turns to the twins for help. Using bravery, clever thinking and a good deal of magic, Eliza and Matty uncover what is really causing the cloud and set about putting things right.
If Eliza and Matty’s first adventure captures the hearts of readers, David hopes to use the royalties to bring their next journeys to life. By buying a copy, you are helping to make the rest of the trilogy possible.
About David Haslam
In the 1970s David was elected as a councillor for Biggin Hill in the London Borough of Bromley. Over sixteen years he played a key role in planning, leisure services and the transformation of Biggin Hill Airport, later being honoured as an Honorary Alderman of the borough for his long-standing public service.
Alongside his professional work, David has always loved history, photography and storytelling. During the Covid-19 pandemic he published A Greek Pilgrimage – 1974, a blend of travel photographs, drawings and historical notes. At the age of eighty-one he set himself a new challenge: to write a magical adventure for his twin grandchildren. That story became Eliza & Matty and the Big Stinky Cloud – his first children’s novel and the beginning of a planned trilogy of adventures.
When he is not writing, David enjoys time with his family, involvement in local schools and community life in Biggin Hill, Kent.