Peter Pan in Scarlet


Peter Pan in Scarlet is a novel by British author Geraldine McCaughrean. It is marketed as the "official sequel" to J. M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy, as it was authorised by Great Ormond Street Hospital, which was granted all rights to the characters and original writings by Barrie in 1929. McCaughrean was selected in 2004 following a competition in which novelists were invited to submit a sample chapter and plot outline for a sequel. Set in 1926, the book continues the story of the Lost Boys, the Darling family, and Peter Pan, during the reign of George V and following World War I.
The book was released internationally on 5 October 2006. The first United Kingdom printing consisted of a standard run of approximately 30,000 copies, and a limited edition of 1,500 copies with a specially printed bookplate, individually numbered and signed by the author. In Britain it was released with a cover illustration and interior silhouettes by David Wyatt, and in the United States with a cover illustration by Tony DiTerlizzi. The US edition features interior silhouette illustrations by Scott M. Fischer. The book was also released in audio format in the UK and US.
Five copies of a special edition, leather bound in a slipcase, were also printed; the author, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Oxford University Press, and HM The Queen each received one of these special edition books. The fifth was auctioned at the book launch.
A new edition, fully illustrated in colour by David Wyatt, abridged by Geraldine McCaughrean for younger readers, was published in the UK in October 2008 by Oxford University Press.

Plot summary

The novel returns to Wendy Darling, her brother John, and Nibs, Slightly, Tootles, the Twins and Curly, who were once Peter Pan's Lost Boys. The six boys were adopted by Mr and Mrs Darling at the end of Peter and Wendy.
John Darling has been having visions about Neverland. The former Lost Boys and Wendy have been having similar dreams, and Wendy realises that bombs from the Great War have punched holes through their world into Neverland, and dreams and ideas are filtering back. Wendy tells the former Lost Boys, now known as Old Boys, that they must find a way to return to Neverland to help Peter Pan restore both worlds to normality. In order to fly, they need fairy dust, so Wendy finds a baby and waits for its first laugh. They come across the fairy Fireflyer, a lying fairy who tells them that in order to get back to Neverland, they must go back to being children. To do this, they must wear their children's clothing. Tootles turns into a girl because he only has daughters. Nibs decides not to join them because he would miss his children too much.
Peter has been dreaming of the Darlings as well, but when they and their Newfoundland puppy return to Neverland, he seems indifferent. He does not notice that Nibs is absent, nor that Michael Darling is dead. He is concerned only with having the best adventure in the world. When the Neverwood catches fire, Peter and company escape the island by way of the Jolly Roger, renamed the Jolly Peter. While on board, Captain Pan discovers the late Captain Hook's second-best coat and finds a treasure map of Neverland in the pocket. Sensing an adventure, he immediately wants to head to the mountain of Neverpeak to claim James Hook's treasure. Peter allows the mysterious circus master Ravello, whose circus has been destroyed in the fire, to join his crew as his valet. Ravello urges Peter to wear the red coat.
During the journey, Peter grows irritable. He develops a harsh cough, and it seems that whenever he wears the coat he is grouchiest. He banishes Fireflyer for eating up the food supply. When he finds that Slightly is growing older, he banishes him as well to Nowhereland, home of all the Long Lost Boys whom Peter has banished in times past.
The hike up Neverpeak is arduous. When the band finally reaches the summit, Peter is impatient to get at the treasure, because he has a feeling there is something inside he wants so much. Inside the treasure chest, each child finds what they have been wishing for on the way up, including Tinker Bell, wished up by Fireflyer, but the gang is puzzled to discover Peter wished for Eton treasures. He looks like a young version of Captain Hook, complete with long black hair and Eton tie. Peter is horrified that he is no longer himself, at the same time that Ravello reveals his true identity as James Hook, who has survived being swallowed up by the crocodile.
Hook seeks revenge and reveals that he served as Peter's valet in order to make the boy be transformed like him when Peter wears Hook's old pirate coat. Hook says that since he is a grown up, he is no longer able to wish, so he needed Peter to wish for the treasures that Hook has wanted all his life. He cut off Peter's shadow so the boy could not fly, combed the imagination out of his hair, and choked him with the white Eton tie. Peter refuses to believe he has become Hook and is horrified. The band is shocked by the revelation.
Hook tries to trick Peter by asking him what he wants to be when he grows up, when Slightly suddenly appears. Slightly, who has been dogging the band's trail all along, warns Peter not to answer, because if he does, he will have betrayed childhood and "looked ahead" to adulthood. Peter feebly banishes Hook to Nowhereland, but to no avail. The league is stuck on the mountain in a blizzard, with no fire and no way to get down. Suddenly Fireflyer appears and, to impress Tinker Bell, plunges into the brush and starts a fire.
Peter has cast off the hated coat, but become cold and ill in his flimsy tunic. He falls to the ground in a coughing fit, and is soon taken up dead. Tootles insists they need a doctor, so Curly Looks Ahead, growing up and becoming a doctor. He makes an incision over Peter's chest, and draws out a long dusty strand. Peter died from a strand of common London fog brought in on the children's clothes.
Warmed by the fire and heartened by Peter's renewed health, the league finds the courage to descend the mountain. Peter is confronted by the banished Long Lost Boys at the foot of the mountain, where he, John, and Wendy are thrown in quicksand. They manage to pull themselves out, but Ravello has returned with his circus animals. The animals are about to devour Peter and the Explorers, when a band of warring fairies descend and smother the animals. Hook is enraged, and vows to fight the weaponless Peter; the boy is saved by the puppy, which attacks Hook. The latter is about to die, when Wendy sees that he can be healed by sleep. She gives him a goodnight kiss, and tucks him under his tattered red coat.
The children escape without harm, and find a way home with help from Mr. Smee. Peter unwillingly remains on the island, unable to fly until his shadow grows back. Wendy says, "I think your mother only shut the window to keep out the FOG!"
Unbeknown to Peter, sleep restores Ravello as James Hook. The story ends with Hook recalling the Past and anticipating revenge.

Characters

Radio

A radio adaptation of the book was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 shortly after its release, on 14 October 2006. It starred Robert Glenister as the Narrator, Daniel Mays as Peter Pan, Kate Maberly as Wendy, and Roger Allam as Ravello.
Cast:
Music composed by David Pickvance; producer/director Celia de Wolff

Stage

A stage version of Peter Pan in Scarlet, adapted and directed by Theresa Heskins, opened at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme on 23 July 2016; it moved to the Oxford Playhouse in August 2016.

Film

A movie based on the book is being produced by a consortium of Headline Pictures, the UK Film Council, and BBC Films.
No release date has been announced.