Dead Man’s Island

Mr. Ross lives on an island where no visitors come. He stops people from taking photographs of him. He is young and rich, but he looks sad. And there is one room in his house which is always locked. Carol Sanders and her mother come to the island to work for Mr. Ross. Carol soon decides that there is something very strange about Mr. Ross. Where did he get his money from? How can a young man buy an island? So she watches, and she listens - and one night she learns what is behind the locked door.

Dead Man’s Island

John Escott

Oxford University Press

1991

Abstract

When someone has a secret and doesn’t want other people to know about it, we say that they have ‘a skeleton in the cupboard’. Most people have secrets they are not proud of. Carol Sanders has. She has a ‘skeleton’ and it follows her wherever she goes. Her secret makes her more and more unhappy; slowly, but certainly, it is ruining her life.

And then Carol meets someone with an even bigger secret. His secret is so big that he needs a whole island to hide it in. Perhaps Carol is the best person to find out what his secret is. But if she does, what will he do? Will he be pleased to share his secret, or will he be anry, very angry? It depends what his secret is. It all depends what kind of ‘skeleton’ he is behind the locked door – the locked door that Carol is going to open.

Contents:

Story introduction

1. Coming to England

2. The Island

3. The Photograph

4. The Locked Room

5. A Dead Man