Wildoak

In London, in 1963, the book’s 11-year-old protagonist, Maggie, is sitting in class. She dreads being called on to read aloud because of her stutter; it has isolated her and made her the object of ridicule. She drives a pencil into her own palm so that she can go to the school nurse instead of reading in front of her peers. The school nurse is unsympathetic. As she roughly treats Maggie’s injury, she makes it clear that she thinks Maggie’s stutter is abnormal and a burden to Maggie’s classmates and the school. She tells Maggie that she will suggest that Maggie be sent to Granville, an institution that Maggie has heard terrible things about.

The snow leopard, Rumpus, is sitting in a cage with his sister, Rosie, in Harrods Department Store’s Pet Kingdom. He playfully jumps, trying to knock Rosie off the ramp she is sitting on, but he misses and takes a tumble. Rosie gracefully climbs up a pole and bats him down when he tries to overtake her. The store’s customers stare at the cats and tap on their enclosure. The strange people make Rumpus uncomfortable. A man and woman approach and debate whether Rumpus would make a good birthday gift for the man’s sister. Despite the man’s misgivings about his sister’s ability to take care of Rumpus, the woman insists that they are out of other options and reminds the man that his sister has friends with similarly exotic big cats as pets. They make the transaction and leave. Later, when Rumpus is sleeping, curled up with his sister for comfort, hands reach into their enclosure, grab Rumpus by the scruff of his neck, and inject him with a sedative.

Home from school, Maggie seeks comfort from the collection of animals she has made homes for in a cupboard in her bedroom: an injured dove, a spider, four roly-poly woodlice, a mouse, and two garden snails. The spider is called “Charlotte” after Maggie’s favorite book, Charlotte’s Web. Maggie has felt a special bond with animals ever since her first visit to the London Zoo, when, seeing a tiger for the first time, she realized that she is able to talk to animals without stuttering. There is a banging noise from downstairs, and Maggie realizes that her father has come home. Maggie hears her parents, Evelyn and Vince Stephens, arguing about her schooling. Maggie’s school has let her parents know that she is no longer welcome there, and Vince wants to send Maggie to Granville. Maggie’s mother argues against this, but Maggie cannot hear what plan her mother is trying to get her father to agree to.

Rumpus is inside a van. He is confused and feels sick as he slides around his crate. He wonders where Rosie is. The truck finally stops, and the driver talks to a woman called Arabella Pennyworth, explaining to her that he is delivering a snow leopard as a gift from her brother. Arabella is at first reluctant to accept the unusual gift, but the delivery person offers her instructions and a supply of the raw meatballs that Rumpus is accustomed to eating. Gradually, Arabella warms to the idea of a beautiful, exotic pet, and she is amused that her brother would send her a snow leopard on the day of an unusually large snowstorm.

Later, she calls her brother to thank him, explaining that she has plans to go out to celebrate her birthday with friends and says she plans to keep Rumpus in his crate while she does so. She complains about how ugly the crate is and says that she will replace it with something prettier soon. When she feeds Rumpus, she gives him less food than the Harrods instructions indicate she should. Then, she tells him that she will take him for a walk in Hyde Park and that they will stop for hot cocoa on the way back.

On the morning after the incident at Maggie’s school, Evelyn tells Maggie that she has convinced Vince to let Maggie stay in Cornwall with her grandfather, Fred Tremayne, for a short time. Evelyn hopes that this visit will help Maggie’s stutter to improve. If it does not, her father informs her coldly, she will still have to go to Granville. Maggie does not want to go to Granville, but she barely remembers her grandfather. She has not seen him in several years because he and her father had a falling out. Maggie vaguely remembers that the disagreement was about World War II, in which her father served as part of the Royal Air Force. After Maggie’s father abruptly tells her to start packing, he leaves the room. Maggie’s mother tries to comfort her, reassuring her that her grandfather is a good man and that she loves Maggie just as she is. Evelyn promises to “work on” Maggie’s father; she believes that Vince is misguided but also, “in his own way,” he is trying to do what is best for Maggie (35). Maggie is devastated at the thought of leaving her animals behind, but Evelyn promises to care for them.

Rumpus wakes in the dark flat, hungry. He paws at the cage door and is surprised when it opens: Arabella has forgotten to lock it. He roams through the apartment looking for food, unwittingly causing havoc and destruction everywhere he goes. Suddenly, he smells Arabella’s perfume and hears her approaching and unlocking the door.

Maggie takes the train from London to Cornwall. She comforts herself by checking on her two snails, Spitfire and Hurricane; unbeknownst to her parents, she has snuck their jar into her pocket so that she is not totally alone. When Maggie reaches her destination, her grandfather is not there to meet her. She waits in the cold for some time before he finally shows up, apologizing and explaining that he had a flat tire. He seems kind to Maggie, if a bit nervous. When Maggie stutters and her words get blocked, he does not seem irritated; instead, he cheerfully adjusts his conversation, telling her all about his farm, his collections of natural objects, his love for animals, and his sneaking suspicion that he should have become a vet instead of a doctor for humans—he says sometimes, animals are easier to understand. As Fred identifies a manor house they are passing as belonging to someone called Lord Foy, Maggie notices that Fred’s mood changes for a moment. Soon, they are at Cherry Tree Cottage, Fred’s home. Maggie smells the salty air and looks at the small stone cottage and the sky full of stars. Although everything is unfamiliar, she wonders if this might be a special place, after all.

When Arabella returns home, she is horrified at the damage Rumpus has caused. She calls him a “monster” and phones her brother to demand that he send his driver, Martin, to collect the cat and get rid of him. She throws Rumpus’s remaining food into the crate; when he goes in after it, she slams the door and locks it. When Martin arrives, Arabella and Martin argue briefly about what to do with Rumpus. Arabella begins to cry, and Martin finally agrees that he will release Rumpus into the woods.

After another disorienting ride, Martin pulls Rumpus’s crate out and unlocks the door. Rumpus cowers in the cage, not wanting to step out into the unfamiliar outdoors of Wildoak forest. Martin grabs his collar, and, as he drags Rumpus out of the crate, the collar breaks. Rumpus is pleased to be free of the collar, but when Martin gets back in the van and leaves, he is frightened to be alone in such a strange place. He pads along the road, crying aloud for Rosie.

Maggie awakes in the middle of the night and goes to look out the window of her bedroom at Fred’s. She sees Rumpus walking across the lawn and wonders if her eyes are playing tricks on her or if she might be dreaming. She wakes the next morning feeling more optimistic. Maggie is still confused about the large cat she saw the previous night; she thinks it was too small to be a leopard, and not the right color, but a leopard is what it reminded her of.

In her luggage, she finds a photo of herself and her parents at the beach. The picture is from when she was very little, and Maggie has no memory of the occasion. She is struck by how happy her father looks and feels pleased that her mother packed the photo to surprise her with a memento of home. When she goes downstairs, she still struggles to express herself to Fred, but he is warm and cheerful, feeding her breakfast and suggesting that she spend the day exploring outside. He tells her about Wildoak, which is the nearby forest full of ancient trees. It is a magical place, he claims, and he seems upset as he makes a cryptic remark about it not being around for much longer.

Chapter 10 flashes back to the previous night, continuing Rumpus’s experiences as he first encounters the forest. He is lost, tired, and frightened, and he desperately wishes that Rosie would appear. He finally ventures deeper into Wildoak and finds an ancient tree in the center of a clearing. It was struck by lightning at some point in its past and has a hollow in its center where he feels safe to curl up and finally sleep. When he wakes in the morning, hungry, he wonders where to find meatballs in this strange place. He plays at chasing a squirrel, but he decides not to chase a fox he spots because he is not sure if she is friendly enough to play with. He plays with a hedgehog and accidentally gets a mouthful of spines. Thirsty and wanting to soothe the pain in his mouth, he finds a stream at the edge of the forest and drinks. There, he spots Maggie, who is out exploring on her first morning in Cornwall, and he retreats back into the woods.