Everybody knows how small objects disappear—the piece of indiarubber you left in the pencil-drawer; the match-box you tucked in the green vase; the half-inch of sealing-wax; studs, hairpins, paper-clips, safety-pins, odd gloves. . . . These things must be somewhere. But where? Mary Norton's book throws new light on this mystery.

Pod, Homily, and Little Arrietty belong to that seldom seen (but often heard) race of Borrowers. Even their names are not quite their own. They live under the floorboards of an old house. They have a sitting-room, a kitchen, a wash-room, three bedrooms, and countless store-rooms. But everything in their little home is 'borrowed'—from the cigar-box which is Arrietty's bedroom (with painted ladies on the ceiling) to the steel pins on which Homily knits their vests. Arrietty does not know about the great house above. For her the sky is brown with cracks in it. But one day she will have to be 'told.' Pod it is who does the 'borrowing,' risking his life each night that his family may be fed and clothed.

A child comes to stay with the ageing giants above—a boy with a screwdriver. And here the story begins: a scuffling drama of moonlight and firelight, where chair legs rear up to infinity and stairs are terraced clifts; where cats, terriers, gardeners, policemen, and sanitary inspectors combine to oust the tiny, harmless family.

How it all ends, and who saves them, the reader will find out in the exciting conclusion to this enticing wonderland story.

From the dust jacket