Gangamma's Gharial

<p>'There was a swish of a tail and for the first time in more than seventy years the bazaar at Giripuram was Gangamma-less.'<br> At the ripe old age of seventy-nine and a quarter Gangamma the gardener comes across a rather unusual object-a gharial-shaped earring that can take her anywhere in the world. On her very first trip she tries to kidnap an apple tree only to discover that it has a guardian-a sullen twelve-year-old girl and an unlikely friendship springs between the two.<br> But that's only the beginning of this story . . . or well the middle depending on how you look at it.<br> This book is no teleporter but it will transport you (whether you're twelve or seventy-nine) to a fabulous (as in fable-like) land of strange creatures and odd heroes and where things are never what they seem.</p>