Brief

In this delightful fairytale, an elderly pastry chef rediscovers his youth in a land of faeries and magic, but he must defend his new home when a villain from his past tracks him down.

What We Liked

There really is so much to love about this project. It's whimsical and fun, with a straightforward plot and a satisfying ending. Henry is a likable protagonist, and the Fey world is imaginative, immersive, and magical. Readers will find it easy to fall into this story, as the writing is strong and confident. This project feels like a classic fairytale for the ages.

Film: The current story has a great beginning, middle, and end. The ending is satisfying, yet it leaves the door open for future additions to the series. This story could easily be the start of a popular children's franchise.

TV: There are so many fun characters and locations in the Sweet Lands. Because the Fey world is full of excitement and delight, a TV show would be the perfect way to explore and expand upon the world.

Key points:
1. Great themes.
2. Strong writing and confident storytelling.
3. Engaging characters.
4. Satisfying ending.
5. Incredibly creative setting.

Synopsis

We enter Apfeldorf as its residents prepare for the Apple Blossom Festival. The town is bustling and happy, but beneath the bright exterior lies an unsolved scandal. The epicenter of the scandal took place at Brackmeyer Sweets and it involved a pastry chef named Henry P Sweets who may have been taken by faeries and the money-driven new president of Brackmeyer, Charles B Brackmeyer Jr., who would stop at nothing to become the richest man in Germany.

In 1964, Charles’s father, the founder of Brackmeyer, went missing. Everyone knew that Charles wanted to change the factory’s practices and switch to machination, but as long as the founder was alive, he wouldn’t allow it. After seven years missing, Charles declared his father dead and took control. Every older employee was laid off and the factory began changing quickly. No one could escape the changes, not even the factory’s star chef, Henry Peppermint Twist.

At 65 years of age, Henry is forced to retire from the job he loves too and he’s left with no idea where to turn. Henry travels to the countryside town of Craztzenbach, where the retirement home information he was given by Charles takes him to an old and crumbling building. Henry meets Grambera, a nurse, and she shows him to his room. Henry meets a friendly man named Ben who is more than 100 years old, yet he looks young. He tells Henry that age and time are illusions and you’re only as old as you feel.

Henry slips into feeling depressed as the seasons change. The sight of strange small men outside his window distracts him, and he thinks he witnesses one of them transform into a rabbit. Henry is interrupted by a visitor: it’s Wally, a young man who worked at Brackmeyer. He’s come to wish Henry a happy birthday and to propose going into business on a new bakery together.

Together Henry and Wally discuss “Twist Treats” and have meetings about it. After one, Henry stumbles upon a very different meeting. Ben and one of the small men seem to be making a deal. Henry follows the small men deeper into the forest. Their footsteps end at a boulder. Henry returns to the home and finds that the police are looking for Ben, who has reportedly gone missing. The home bans evening walks in the forest.

Ben’s disappearance threatens the continued existence of the home, and Henry realizes that he must work quickly to get his business with Wally off the ground. While on a walk, Henry hears and manages to snatch one of the small men.

The elf tells him that his name is Mac and that he has waited a long time for Henry; he’s here for him. Mac tells Henry that there is a place where he can do the work he loves and never grow old. Henry doesn't fully believe him, but Mac tells him that he’ll remember the truth soon enough. Henry follows Mac through a doorway in a hedge. They enter a cave filled with gemstones, which Henry learns are actually pieces of candy. Mac tells him this is the Rock Candy Mine. They pass by rock-dwelling dwarfs mining the candy on their way to the Peppermint Forest.

In the forest, Henry and Mac both look young again, because Mac explains that this is who they truly are and what they see in the everyday world is merely a trick of perception. Mac introduces Henry to Zandlor, the keeper and protector of the Peppermint Forest. Henry also encounters amusing little creatures that are native to the forest.

Mac and Henry continue moving through the beautiful and delicious Sweet Lands and encounter many places and creatures, including the Pink Lemonade Lake and Sugarplum Fairies. It’s all joyous and delightful, except, Mac says, for the Bittersweet Mountains, where a hag named Anise with a taste for elf flesh lives.

Henry and Mac arrive at a village and share in a wonderful feast with the elves. While there, Henry meets Emlin, a beautiful elf who immediately captures his attention. She doesn’t look like the other elves. Henry is quite smitten. After an evening of dancing, Emlin and Henry take a walk. She tells him she got lost as a child and faeries found and saved her. She’s never gone back. Emlin shows Henry to his home, a magical gingerbread house that relaxes and delights him.

In the morning, Henry becomes spooked when Mac and Emlin tell him he can’t go home. He tries to leave and discovers that he begins rapidly aging in the outside world. Only in the Fey world can he remain ageless. Henry thinks sadly of Wally, but feels better when Mac and Emlin show him the impressive Sweet Lands Factory.

Henry still feels bad about Wally, so Gobo, the chief engineer and gadget maker at Sweet Lands, agrees to help. Henry arranges a meeting with Wally in the woods using a Candy Com to reach out to him.

Wally is quite a bit older now, and he brings his two children to the meeting. Still, he is delighted to see Henry, and Henry is delighted to learn that Wally fathered his children with Katie, another employee Henry knew at Brackmeyer. Henry asks Wally if he still wants to open their own bakery, and Wally agrees. They plan to communicate using the Candy Com and part ways.

Together, they open Twist Treats. The business does wonderfully well, and Henry and Wally agree that they must keep it a secret so as not to anger Charles at Brackmeyer Sweets.

While out on a walk to collect supplies, Emlin and Henry make a scary discovery in the Fey world. Anise, who lives in the Bittersweet Mountains, is back and it seems she still has a taste for elf flesh. In the human world, things are going wrong as well. Brackmeyer discovers Twist Treats.

Brackmeyer spies on Henry and Wally during their dropoffs. He finally sees the elves and rushes into the cave after them. Inside the cave, Brackmeyer transforms into a hideous and powerful ogre. He takes Wally and leaves with him in the direction of the Bittersweet Mountains before Henry can stop him.

Henry and Emlin call on the Gumdrop Patrol for assistance. Linxz, a spry scout elf, agrees to help track Brackmeyer and Wally. Linxz and Henry track Brackmeyer up the mountain, where they overhear him talking with Anise. She strikes a deal with him. She’ll give him a machine that will allow him to create an army that could destroy the Sweet Lands Factory, but in exchange Brackmeyer must allow her to do what she wishes with the elves. Brackmeyer agrees.

Henry and Linxz manage to cut Wally free while Brackmeyer is distracted. They stay and watch Anise’s machine. It creates cookie soldiers that are difficult to defeat. They realize that this means the Sweet Lands Factory is in trouble. Henry, Wally, and Linxz manage to escape back down the mountain before Anise can capture them.

On their way home, the group meets a monster in the Treacle Swamp. It tells them that it hates Anise too and though it’s bound by one of her spells to the swamp, it will do anything it can to help defeat her.

The elves prepare for war. When Anise and her gingerbread army arrive, the elves fight valiantly but they lose the upper hand. Just when all seems lost, the Treacle monster emerges from the swamp, takes out many cookie soldiers, and drags Anise into the swamp with it. When she is gone, the spell is broken and the monster is free.

All is not over though. Brackmeyer emerges from the swamp atop a gigantic cookie soldier, and the war continues. The Sweet Lands Factory is torn apart. Henry has the helpful idea to pour milk on the cookie soldiers. It works, and the tide turns. But when Henry faces Brackmeyer, the ogre reminds him of his life before the elves. It catches Henry off guard, and Brackmeyer almost gets away, but the elves show support to Henry and he manages to push Brackmeyer into the garbage pit and disappear.

A new factory is constructed, and Henry feels younger and more like an elf every day. Henry asks about his old friends from the retirement home. Mac tells him that many of the elves he met were once men in the home, such as Linxz.

On the outside world, Twist Treats flourishes. Wally and his wife Katie buy the old Brackmeyer factory and hire back old workers to help Twist Treats meet its high demand. After many years, Wally and Katie retire to the Sweet Lands. Still forever young, Henry is there with Emlin to greet them. It is a joyful ending, but Henry’s life isn’t over. An epilogue teases another adventure for Henry and his friends.

About The Author

B.W. Van Alstyne is a fantasy author who writes stories that delight children and adults alike. A retired chef and baker himself, Alstyne uses his own experiences making cakes, cookies, sugarplums, and other tasty confections as inspiration for his work.