Fairy Oak

First Book: "Il segreto delle gemelle" ("The Twins’ Secret")
Airdate: October 26, 2005

“For over one thousand years, at the stroke of midnight, in the houses of Fairy Oak something magical happens: tiny glittering fairies tell stories about children to excited witches with kind eyes, who drink in every single word. Curious, isn’t it? Everyone knows that fairies and witches don’t get along and that witches don’t like children one little bit. But we are in Greenvale, in the village of Fairy Oak. And here things have always gone a little differently…”



Thus begins the story... In an ancient magical village, which is hidden in the depths of a timeless past and which has grown up around Oak, the great talking tree from whom the village takes its name, a fairy, a witch and two children experienced the most exciting of adventures. In Fairy Oak the Magicals of the Light, with creative, life-enhancing powers, and those of the Dark, restless and mysterious, who possess the absolute power of destruction and death, have forged an alliance. The two factions are not in opposition, but complementary and indivisible, like day and night. The fact remains, however, that Magicals of the Dark are by nature more inclined to the dark forces and perhaps even to evil. The Magicals live in harmony with the Nonmagicals, so much so that it’s difficult to tell one from the other. Fairies, wizards, witches and ordinary citizens have been living in those stone houses for so long that no one notices their mutual oddities any longer. And certainly, they all resemble one another! Apart from the fairies, who are very, very tiny, and luminous. The witches and wizards of the valley call them in to act as nannies for the young ones of the village and this enchanted story is narrated by one of them, the young fairy Telli. Telli is summoned by the witch Lilac Tomelilla to act as fairy nanny to her two nieces, Lavender and Vanilla, daughters of her sister Dahlia and Cicero Periwinkle. For Telli, for whom this is her first job, this is definitely a great honour: Tomelilla is the wisest and most honourable witch of all time and the little fairy certainly could never imagine the adventure that was in store for her! As her story unfolds, we soon realize that she is charged with the difficult task of protecting the twins. Lavender and Vanilla are born on the same day, but twelve hours apart. This is the first obstacle: the law of the Witchlike Code states that twins cannot inherit magical powers from their uncles or aunts, as other children can. But perhaps, twelve hours represents an exception. Tomelilla and Telli really count on this and for years Telli is asked to keep a close eye on the girls every moment of the day and then make her report during the “Fairy Tale”. This is what the fairies call midnight, because at that hour they join their witches to inform them about their nephews’ and nieces’ day. The years go by, the twins grow and begin to show profound differences in character, even though, curiously, they do not seem to manifest any magic powers, until one day Tomelilla is rewarded. But in terrible circumstances! On the very same day in which the girls reveal their powers, an old enemy falls on the plain of Greenvale. This is the Terrible 21st, so called because he always attacks on the 21st of June, the day of the summer solstice. And he is evil personified, even though he is not a person: no one has ever seen him, but everyone knows that he is determined to destroy all that is beautiful and joyful in the world. Twenty-one years had gone by since the Terrible 21st’s last attack on Fairy Oak. Why has he returned now? The entire Periwinkle family is attacked and, in defending themselves, the twins react as witches, but with a “small” difference. Vanilla shows that she is an exceptional Witch of the Light, like all her ancestors. And Lavender is the first Witch of the Dark in the family. Not that this makes any difference to Tomelilla, but it’s certainly strange. While the Supreme Assembly of the Magicals meets to decide how to face the Terrible 21st, life in the village goes on. And Vanilla and Lavender learn to defend themselves and to keep well clear of dark places. They do this in the company of magical friends such as Flox Pollimon, the Witch of the Dark with a sunny, joyous personality; Grisam Burdock, the good looking, kindly wizard who both of the girls fall in love with; Cherry Spleenwort, an unbearable gossip and the Mayor’s daughter; and Shirley Poppy, the most magical, fascinating and mysterious girl that the twins had ever met. They, together with Lilac Tomelilla and Grisam’s uncle Duff Burdock, a powerful and generous wizard, save the village from a new attack launched by the Terrible 21st but on that occasion the citizens of Fairy Oak will discover that the war has only just begun...

Second Book: "L'incanto del buio" ("The Dark Enchantment")
Airdate: October 26, 2006

“There was an Era, a very ancient time, in which it is said that Light and Dark were as one. A single power. Who possessed it ruled the world for many thousands of years, in peace and harmony, orchestrating, with a perfect ear, day with night, cold with heat, the beautiful with the ugly, rain with sunshine, without overlooking a single nuance. The Earth was most beautiful. The ancient ones would tell you that this was the Era of the Beginning. The Beginning of the end. Because even then someone was already a traitor. Without a precise reason, suddenly, he turned his back on harmony and equilibrium. ​And without asking permission, he imposed night upon the day, rain upon the sunshine, hate upon love, ​darkness upon light...” ​

In Fairy Oak the time of peace seems destined to end, because the old Enemy has returned to seek revenge and not only that. The Lord of the Dark wants to rule the world in the shadows and to do this he has to destroy the other half of magical power: the Light. In the 2nd chapter of the trilogy, the Enemy besieges Fairy Oak. The defence of the village is entrusted to the Magicals, who in the past have already succeeded in driving the Enemy out, but he manages to infiltrate their ranks and the Ancient Alliance begins to waver. Hope is in the young hands of Vanilla and Lavender, the twin witches and a living symbol of the ancient alliance: Light and Dark in the same kin: “two sides of a coin that should not exist”. It is this bond that the Enemy tries to sever with his axe. Like day and night, equal and opposite, Light and Dark are believed to be inseparable and both necessary, their incessant alternating keeps the worlds wheel in motion and allows life to regenerate itself. To destroy this all, the Terrible 21st must separate the twins, pit one against the other, break the Alliance, only in this way he will be able to win and you can bet he’ll do his worst to succeed. A long, dangerous journey waits then for the girls, deep into the labyrinth of their own powers, the one that creates and the other that destroys. A long journey deep inside their hearts and against all odds. At the end of it, when eventually everything seems lost and darkness already cloaks the valley, the twins understand their mission and by casting the most spectacular spell they save their world and people from the old Enemy. But they wont do all this by themselves! Four elements will become their precious allies: friendship, trust, history and love. Unfolds like this, among countless adventures Telli’s tale, the luminous fairy whose difficult task is to protect the twin witches of Fairy Oak.

Third Book: "Il potere della luce" ("The Power of the Light﻿")
Airdate: October 25, 2007

Winter falls on the village of the Enchanted Oak, an early winter that freezes the roses in bloom and the whole valley is soon covered by a blanket of snow. The harmony and the serenity that used to characterize the charming village are distant memories, yet that white gleam instils hope in the hearts of Telli and Tomelilla. The citizens of Fairy Oak, returned from a terrifying battle, fear for their lives and mistrust everything and everybody. Above all, they now mistrust young Lavender: her strange disappearance during the last attack and her unusual return afterwards, lead the citizens to think that she has gone over to the Enemy’s side and now they believe that she is his agent. Can this really be true? Vanilla still has blind faith in her sister. Yet her love no longer seems enough for Lavender, who, segregated and openly pointed at by almost everyone, escapes once more. Desperate, Vanilla leaves the village to track her down and it is only thanks to the intervention of Telli and the courageous Grisam that she isn’t kidnapped by the macabre emissaries of the Enemy. Only one chance remains, to ask Captain Talbot for the Second Ancient Chronicle, in which, Heather is sure, they will discover Lavender’s secret. Nonetheless, another bitter surprise is in store for Vanilla and her friends. On the night they go to the Captain’s to ask him for the “book”, they find him dead. Serenely in his own bed. A solemn funeral accompanies the old seaman to his last resting place and on that occasion the youngsters of Fairy Oak rally round Vanilla and with her they form a compact, tight-knit Band. They will help her to find Lavender again at all costs and they will do everything in their power to defend the village from the Enemy. And that’s exactly what they do. A few days before the 21st of December the village is attacked and Oak, the heart of the ancient community, is obliged to flee. The children help him get him to safety. Even though afterwards he disappears… That same day, Vanilla will meet someone who will change her life and that of the village, and make her heart beat hard. The night of the 21st of December, the day of the winter solstice, has come and, as predicted by Tomelilla and Duff Burdock, the Terrible 21st once more falls on Fairy Oak, but this time he has a good two secret weapons. The first of these leaves the citizens, already weary and frightened, completely disarmed; the second has them on their knees. Among the ranks of the armies of the Terrible 21st, Heather – and not only she – spots her sister advancing solemnly and severely astride a black charger. So it was true, the Ancient Alliance had really been broken, Light and Dark facing each other on opposite sides as they had done in the past. But is this really the case? The answer lies in Vanilla’s heart. What will happen depends entirely on her.

I quattro misteri (The Four Mysteries)
The new Fairy Oak series comprises four books, each of which is filled with the colours, sounds, atmospheres, deeds and characters that play a leading role in a fundamental moment, a characteristic of the Trilogy. Each of the four books deal in an independent and conclusive way with Love, Magic, Friendship, and Family in Fairy Oak. To do this, they make use once more of the familiar voice of Telli the fairy, but there’s something new. In each book, together with the twins, an outstanding role is reserved for a particular main character whose personality conditions the point of view of the story. The format, and the graphic layout change to correspond with and enhance the most episodic part of the narrative: in each book, in fact, a common thread links episodes separated in space and above all in time, with a view to providing a rich, variegated and complete portrayal of the central theme. So, all four books are distinct from one another and different from the Trilogy. Further, they are not intended to be a follow-up to the original story so much as an elaboration of its most characteristic aspects. But the style of the titles, subtitles, and a similar graphic design is common to all four books and all four episodes, which are linked to one another in the same way as the village walls and the watch towers of Fairy Oak are linked together in order to safeguard the heart and the essence of that world. At the same time, the graphic style and the images of the twins, present on all the covers along with the main co-star of each theme, inevitably connect the new series with the original story.

Fourth Book: "Capitan Grisam e l'amore" ("Love and Captain Grisam")
Airdate: November 10, 2008

“I decided in that moment that I would reveal to my friends four mysteries of Fairy Oak that they still didn’t know. One story per evening for four evenings, after which I would never talk again about the past. On the first evening I talked about love, on the second about amazing spells, on the third about friendship, and on the fourth I told them about a farewell.” ​

Telli’s time in the village is up and so the fairy returns home to the Kingdom of the Silvery Dews. Waiting to welcome her, she finds all her friends who, not satisfied with the letters received over the years, wish to know even more about the village and its inhabitants. So Telli decides to tell four more stories. ​She will reveal four secrets of Fairy Oak, one secret every evening for four evenings, then she will no longer talk about the past. She devotes the first evening to the Captain’s Band and the Captain himself, entrusting Grisam, the twins and the rest of the gang with the task of revealing the secret concealed behind the identity of William Talbot. Assembled in the cave, or in the hut, by the light of fairies or of oil lamps, under Oak’s branches on cold but sunny days or in the twins’ house, in the tower or in front of the fire, the youngsters put together the pieces of their Captain’s story, which unfolds in a series of stunning twists. In fact a mystery enshrouds the past of the man who said he was a valiant commander. On opening his sea chest, Grisam, Vanilla, Lavender, Flox and Shirley come across a letter. It is addressed to a dearly beloved wife and is signed by the Captain of the Isabella II, but something doesn’t add up. The signature at the foot of the letter is not that of Captain William E. Talbot, as the kids expected, but of a mysterious “Captain W. Edward Temby”. And there’s worse! Captain Temby writes that he has accepted on board his ship “that flea-ridden vagabond Talbot”! The children are stunned. They cannot believe that their Captain lied. In the meantime, the handsome inventor Jim Burium must return home. In saying goodbye to Vanilla, he declares his love for her and not only that: young Burium also conceals a secret that no one thinks to connect with Temby’s letter, mistakenly… On opening the trunk, the young friends have freed a story locked up and forgotten for many years, deliberately forgotten! A story that doesn’t concern the Captain alone. A few clues, unexpected discoveries and laconic memories lead the youngsters to put together the pieces of a buried past that sometimes seems obscure and even frightening. Who was William Talbooth? And Edward Temby? Who really wrote that letter? And why had Jim run away from home before arriving in Fairy Oak? Strange but true, the image that slowly takes shape before the astonished eyes of the twins and their friends, that which emerges from the fog of mystery, has the eyes and smile of love. Is this why, after the trunk is opened, that the entire village seems to have a love story to tell? The coincidence is a strange one, yet it really seems that in Fairy Oak no one can stop themselves from talking about that magical, very special moment in which you get butterflies in the stomach. That moment in which everything seems to stop and your heart becomes fragile and light in your breast, ready to shatter into a thousand pieces or open up to release a flight of emotions that well up in your throat and take your breath away. Well, perhaps there really is a connection between the mysterious letter found in the trunk and the love that, all of a sudden, seems to have lit up everyone’s heart. But this is neither the time nor the place to give away the ending. All you need to know is that this book talks about mysteries and love, many kinds of love. These include the undeclared love between Tomelilla and Duff Burdock, a lute maker’s sincere love for music and his dog, the deeply-rooted love between Dahlia and Cicero, the imperfect love between Grisam and Lavender and the unrequited love linking a mysterious lady and a Captain. This is the first book in the series The Four Mysteries. It is also the most intense and engrossing.

Fifth Book: "Gli incantevoli giorni di Shirley" ("Shirley’s Enchanting Days")
Airdate: May 12, 2009



“On the second evening I told my companions about those enchanting days, amazing magic, courageous, palpitating hearts and the mystery of the wood.” ​

Spring has come to Fairy Oak. The air is scented with narcissus, and games fill the long days. The gardens of the village are in bloom and the sight is a breathtaking one. But the rain is coming. And in fact it pours down, it even hails! For long, endless days. A good job Shirley Poppy is there to hearten the youngsters of the village, with a new, complicated mystery. It all begins on the day when Lavender, to take Vanilla’s mind off Jim – who has not been heard of for over two months – organizes a trip to Woodsend. The vivacious Witch of the Dark is sure this will please her sister because at Woodsend fun is guaranteed: Shirley is their best friend, together with Flox, and knows mysterious, enchanted places and how to cast amazing spells. A surreal and amusing day awaits them, La is absolutely positive about that. But what she doesn’t know is that that day will only be the first of a long series. Shirley has found a very, very strange recipe book hidden in her aunt’s sewing room. Its creased old pages make no mention of eggs or flour, but of swords made of salt, pieces of sky, hearts of stone and a secret, the Secret of the Wood! Determined to get to the bottom of it all, Shirley involves the twins Vanilla and Lavender and all the Captain’s Band in a series of amazing adventures. It will be dangerous, the children know that, but what they will see and learn will repay them for every wound and fear. Forever. This is the second book in the series The Four Mysteries, the most surreal and the most magical.

Sixth Book: "Flox sorride in autunno" ("Flox Smiles in Autumn﻿")
Airdate: November 12, 2009

“I would have made them laugh because the third story was amusing and now that they knew the characters they would have laughed even more on imagining them as they danced the Dance of the Follies of the Season. On the third evening I talked about this, and about friendship…” ​

It always happens this way, one September day, someone does something odder than the usual oddities, and from that moment on, for a month and sometimes two, normality is banned from Fairy Oak. They call it “The Dance of the Follies of the Season”. What happens on those days is hilarious and beautiful, because everyone really seems to give of their best as far as concerns imagination, power, skill and… eccentricity. Even the trees join in the fun, and the whole Valley seems bewitched. And Flox has a theory about this: all you have to do is look in the eyes of the dancers to understand that… But, let’s leave it to Flox, the rainbow girl - and La and Baboo’s best friend - to reveal this mystery. This story is dedicated to her and to friendship, the kind that - wherever you turn – it’s right in front of you. And sometimes it leaves bruises, not only on the skin either. This is the third book in the series The Four Mysteries, the most lively, fun and lighthearted.

Seventh Book: "Addio Fairy Oak" ("Farewell to Fairy Oak﻿")
Airdate: October 28, 2010

Telli has gone back home. In the fifteen years she has spent far away, she always wrote to her companions at home, describing the village, the girls, and all the incredible adventures she had had with them and their fantastic friends. So much so that now the fairies want to know more, they want her to tell them again, in fact, they don’t her to stop, ever! They ask for new stories, new anecdotes, to know all about the village of the Enchanted Oak and its inhabitants. Telli gladly agrees and promises four new stories: they will allow her to stay in the company of her memories and to live those wonderful days again. Yes, but for how much longer? Sooner or later she will have to put the past aside and face the future. She knows this, and now, with only one story left, she feels her heart beating hard: will she manage to say farewell to Fairy Oak?

Her last story is intense and moving, and yet it conceals a mystery, and reveals a prophecy…

Eight Book: "Un anno al villaggio - Il diario di Vaniglia e Pervinca" ("A Year in the Village - The Diary of Heaher and Lavender")
Airdate: November 10, 2011

Compilation Books
The first compilation book is titled "Fairy Oak - La trilogia completa" ("The Trilogy﻿ - The complete Collection") and includes the first three books. It aired on November 25, 2010. The second compilation book aired on October 27, 2011 is titled "Fairy Oak - I quattro misteri" ("The Four Mysteries - The Complete Collection") and icludes the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh book.