Limbo, in Roman Catholic theology, the border place between heaven and hell where dwell those souls who, though not condemned to punishment, are deprived of the joy of eternal existence with God in heaven.
For sixteen year old Charlie Kennedy, and many like him, being stuck in the body of the wrong gender was akin to being sentenced to a type of Limbo. He found himself taken on a holiday of a lifetime that his single-mother Maggie had won in a competition. The Island of St Emelia in the Caribbean was one of those rich people’s playgrounds that most people see only on travel shows, so to actually be given the use of a villa for two weeks on the island was a fantastic bonus. Once there, it seemed less than idyllic, with few people his age and little to do, particularly if what you like doing is play computer games and dress in your mother’s clothes when she’s at work. Maggie is fed up with a son who rarely leaves his room, so she takes a boat trip round the islands, leaving him behind. Charlie, taking advantage of the situation, dresses in his mother tennis dress and goes to the court and knocks the ball against the training wall. To his credit, no one he meets suspects that he is anything other than a pretty teen-aged girl. Young Tom Lawrence is the same age as Charlie, on the same island and equally fed up with the lack of young people his age. He discovers a pretty girl playing by herself, so naturally invites her to play a game of tennis. To his surprise, Charlie beats him, so then the pair go swimming. Charlie ‘borrows’ his mothers swimsuit, padding it out appropriately. Charlie is torn. He obviously passes, but for how long, and what will be his undoing? Will his mother return and discover his secret? Will young Tom find out somehow? Fate intercedes in the form of mechanical problems on Maggie’s boat trip. She is delayed, so Charlie accepts an invitation to the Pirate’s Ball. In a mysterious shop, be finds a wonderful ball gown that seems a contemporary copy of a nineteenth century garment. He is also given a gold locket on a gold chain which mysteriously tightens once he places it around his neck. There is no clasp and no way of taking it off. After the ball, with his mother’s imminent return, Charlie prepares to bare his soul and finally come out of the closet. However, just before returning to the villa, Charlie finds that he is a lot more than he suspected, and his locket unlocks realms that he had no idea existed. Unaware of the cursed hoard of stolen treasure, pirates who wandered the realm between life and death, and a twist that suddenly made Charlie someone closer to his dreams, Charlie meets someone who actually died over a hundred and fifty years ago. He thinks she is Lady Charlotte Forbes, a long dead woman of noble birth who was briefly married to a Governor of the Island in 1838. He tried to tell the truth, but it’s very hard to claim you are a boy when a very real breast pokes through one’s ripped dress. Charlie then faces an adventure that she never expected. Would she ever return to her own world? Would she change it? Would she hell!