Tom's Midnight Garden

Tom Long is angry and upset when his summer vacation plans are ruined. He and his brother, Peter, had eagerly anticipated spending the holidays building a treehouse in the garden. However, Peter is quarantined with measles, and their parents are sending Tom, who was exposed but doesn’t appear to have caught the measles, to stay with his aunt and uncle Gwen and Alan Kitson. The Kitsons have no children and live in an apartment with no garden near Ely in eastern Britain.

Tom is rude to Alan as they drive through Cambridgeshire. On the way, they stop at Ely Cathedral. Tom wants to climb the cathedral’s tower, but Alan reminds him that he cannot mix with other people in case he has measles. He buys his nephew a postcard of the cathedral tower instead.

The Kitsons live in an old manor house that was split into apartments after the end of World War II and surrounded by new housing developments. Tom finds the hallway characterless and “unwelcoming.” Its only interesting feature is a grandfather clock that ticks loudly. Gwen warns Tom not to touch the clock since it belongs to the landlady, Mrs. Bartholomew, who lives in the attic apartment.