'The five are Peter, Cissy, Nancy, and twins Beauty and Barbara. When their parents go off to Egypt they are left with Uncle Horace and Cousin Estelle, where they discover a deserted house and garden. The children repair the garden to its original beauty, and when the artist-owner returns he is transformed by the enthusiasm and innocence of the children, so that he is able to paint again' (
Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature 305).