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Flipped
During a long, lonely summer, Flip explores the mysteries of the nearby marshes. When he stumbles upon an abandoned Victorian house, he quickly discovers not everything is as it seems.
As Flip realises he is trapped inside the page of a famous book, and the strange people he meets are convinced he's someone else, he must work with faces old and new to stop this story becoming his new reality.
As Flip realises he is trapped inside the page of a famous book, and the strange people he meets are convinced he's someone else, he must work with faces old and new to stop this story becoming his new reality.
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 6, 2025
1 person want to read
About the author
Philip Caveney
69 books61 followersPhilip Caveney was born in North Wales in 1951. The son of an RAF officer, he spent much of his childhood travelling the length and breadth of Britain and spent several years in Malaysia and Singapore.
He attended the Kelsterton College Of Art where he obtained a diploma in Graphic Design. Whilst there, he became drummer (and latterly vocalist) with rock band, Hieronymus Bosch.
After leaving college, he worked extensively in theatre both in London and Wales and wrote the lyrics for rock adaptations of The Workhouse Donkey and Oscar Wilde’s Salome.
His first novel, The Sins Of Rachel Ellis, was published in 1976.
Published Works for Adults
The Sins Of Rachel Ellis: St Martin’s Press/ Robert Hale/Berkeley Press. ‘a spine chilling debut.’ – Doubleday Book Club magazine
Tiger Tiger – ‘ St Martin’s Press/Granada ‘…an intriguing tale of rivalry and honour ‘– Flintshire Chronicle
The Tarantula Stone – Granada - ‘breathtaking action.’ Kirkus
Cursery Rhymes Cornerhouse Books– ‘wickedly funny’ – City Life
Speak No Evil – Headline/Headline Review/ ‘cracking summer reading.’ City Life
Black Wolf – Headline/ Headline Review/ nominated for WH Smith Thumping Good Read award.
Strip Jack Naked – Headline/Headline Review - ‘a triumphant thriller’ - Evening Post
Slayground – Headline/Headline Review ‘,,, breakneck pace’ – Daily Mirror
Skin Flicks – Headline/headline Review – ‘Caveney uses the central image with considerable skill’ – Sunday Times
Burn Down Easy – Headline/Headline Review – ‘the fiction equivalent of standing on Semtex’ – Pure Fiction
Bad To The Bone – Headline/ Headline Review ’10 little Indians on speed!’ Tangled web
1999 – Headline/Headline Review ‘more than just a return to form.’ City Life
Love Bites – Xlibris – ‘a frighteningly funny read!’ Tregolwyn reviews.
Published works for Children
Cursery Rhymes(with Bob Seal) (Cornerhouse Books)
Sebastian Darke - Prince Of Fools (2007) (Random House)
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates (2008) (Random House)
Coming soon…
Sebastian Dark: Prince of Explorers (2009) (Random House)
Alec Devlin: The Eye of The Serpent (2008) (Random House)
Alec Devlin: The Kingdom of the Skull (2009) (Random House)
He wrote the screenplay for the short film Dream Factory, directed by Philip Davenport and has recently written his first full-length screenplay The Sick House for director Curtis Radclyffe.
He is also an advertising copywriter and has been the co-ordinator for the Manchester Writers Workshop for over twenty five years.
He attended the Kelsterton College Of Art where he obtained a diploma in Graphic Design. Whilst there, he became drummer (and latterly vocalist) with rock band, Hieronymus Bosch.
After leaving college, he worked extensively in theatre both in London and Wales and wrote the lyrics for rock adaptations of The Workhouse Donkey and Oscar Wilde’s Salome.
His first novel, The Sins Of Rachel Ellis, was published in 1976.
Published Works for Adults
The Sins Of Rachel Ellis: St Martin’s Press/ Robert Hale/Berkeley Press. ‘a spine chilling debut.’ – Doubleday Book Club magazine
Tiger Tiger – ‘ St Martin’s Press/Granada ‘…an intriguing tale of rivalry and honour ‘– Flintshire Chronicle
The Tarantula Stone – Granada - ‘breathtaking action.’ Kirkus
Cursery Rhymes Cornerhouse Books– ‘wickedly funny’ – City Life
Speak No Evil – Headline/Headline Review/ ‘cracking summer reading.’ City Life
Black Wolf – Headline/ Headline Review/ nominated for WH Smith Thumping Good Read award.
Strip Jack Naked – Headline/Headline Review - ‘a triumphant thriller’ - Evening Post
Slayground – Headline/Headline Review ‘,,, breakneck pace’ – Daily Mirror
Skin Flicks – Headline/headline Review – ‘Caveney uses the central image with considerable skill’ – Sunday Times
Burn Down Easy – Headline/Headline Review – ‘the fiction equivalent of standing on Semtex’ – Pure Fiction
Bad To The Bone – Headline/ Headline Review ’10 little Indians on speed!’ Tangled web
1999 – Headline/Headline Review ‘more than just a return to form.’ City Life
Love Bites – Xlibris – ‘a frighteningly funny read!’ Tregolwyn reviews.
Published works for Children
Cursery Rhymes(with Bob Seal) (Cornerhouse Books)
Sebastian Darke - Prince Of Fools (2007) (Random House)
Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates (2008) (Random House)
Coming soon…
Sebastian Dark: Prince of Explorers (2009) (Random House)
Alec Devlin: The Eye of The Serpent (2008) (Random House)
Alec Devlin: The Kingdom of the Skull (2009) (Random House)
He wrote the screenplay for the short film Dream Factory, directed by Philip Davenport and has recently written his first full-length screenplay The Sick House for director Curtis Radclyffe.
He is also an advertising copywriter and has been the co-ordinator for the Manchester Writers Workshop for over twenty five years.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 12, 2025
This is set during the hot summer of 2020, the year we were all in COVID lockdown.
This is the time when we had bubbles, the school’s were shut unless you were a key worker and we were allowed out of our homes to go to work, shopping or to exercise,
For millions of children these were lonely times they were isolated from their friends and peers.
This was a creative story with lot’s going on.
We have a retelling in a way of Great Expectations, and this story runs parallel with this one. And how both casts come together.
But there is a scary time when a character gets COVID and we feel the character's emotions during this time.
This is ideal for the modern audience, and getting a simpler and better version of a classic.
I had never read this author before but after this my library reserve list is now longer.
This is the time when we had bubbles, the school’s were shut unless you were a key worker and we were allowed out of our homes to go to work, shopping or to exercise,
For millions of children these were lonely times they were isolated from their friends and peers.
This was a creative story with lot’s going on.
We have a retelling in a way of Great Expectations, and this story runs parallel with this one. And how both casts come together.
But there is a scary time when a character gets COVID and we feel the character's emotions during this time.
This is ideal for the modern audience, and getting a simpler and better version of a classic.
I had never read this author before but after this my library reserve list is now longer.
November 6, 2025
I do love a good Dickens novel, mainly because he was so masterful and the characters so rounded and fun. I was offered this to read, and the fact it was including his works, and one of the most famous too, piqued my interest. Would his work be treated with respect or ridden roughshod over? I am very pleased to say this was a most respectful and clever, at times witty, and equally quite poignant tale that spans two quite different times that became on reading, not so very different after all, not least because of the pandemic/epidemic.
The plot starts in late July 2020, the school summer holidays have arrived, and it is the height of the Covid pandemic. 15/16-year-old Philip Gregory, aka Flip, is spending his days out and about on his own, exploring the Kent Marshes near his home. His mother is a nurse practitioner in the A&E of a local hospital, managing the brunt and cruel side of the virus. On his latest walk, he heads up a rise and finds in the valley beyond, and hidden from view, an abandoned Victorian redbrick house behind a wired fence. Dilapidated and boarded up, he finds his way inside. What awaits him is a sort of house stuck in time; cobwebs, mouldy old furniture abound, and rubbish left by other visitors is the only sign of modern-day life.
Then, out of the blue, he sees a young, imperious-looking girl about his age, staring at him from an upper landing. Stranger yet, it seems she was expecting him. She calls him Pip, a name he hasn’t been called since early childhood, and has a task for him to complete. Unwittingly, Flip seems to have been seconded to undertake a task for Miss H. Curious how the girl knew his past name, and despite his protestations to the contrary that he is not ‘Pip’, the girl introduces herself as Estella, and leads a confused Flip, aka Pip to where he is to work. He has been tasked with cataloguing all the items in the house’s large and dusty attic, and to look out in particular for a large book that Miss H has lost.
During the search, which does not go well, Flip finds an old and loaded rifle and blows out an attic window by mistake. Taking this as the ideal reason to flee, he makes his excuses, and heads to the ground floor. Estella is not best pleased and insists that he should return the next day, saying that if he does not, Miss H will have ways to ensure he does.
A surprise awaits Flip that evening as, after a very realistic dream where he is running on the Marshes and comes across a stranger who sounds like his absent dad, he awakes to find Estella in his garden! She is there to ensure he returns the next day, and will confront his mother if Flip does not.
Needless to say, Flip is starting to get worried and overwhelmed by all this, but to keep the peace and not get his mum involved, the next day he returns to the old house, Satis House.
The next day dawns, and Flip heads off to the Marshes, and into what becomes a very exciting adventure. As time progresses, it is obvious to him that he is being drawn into the book, Great Expectations, of which he knows little, and is perceived by other characters as Pip from the novel. Indeed, he seems to become Pip, in clothes and worn appearance. But Flip soon realises he has not replaced Pip, just displaced him. Why this is happening, he doesn't know, but somehow he needs to figure out and quickly to make sure he doesn't get stuck back in Pip's world!
Worse is to come, as the characters are seeping into 2020, too. When he arrives in the study of none other than the author, Charles Dickens, himself, things get really fun, and a touch surreal.
What did I think as both a reader and a published author?
Philip Caveney has skilfully created multiple stories. We have a retelling, albeit abbreviated, of the Dickens classic, then the tale of Flip and his mother and estranged father. Finally, we have the resulting tale as the casts of both come together, in good ways and bad, and across the two other tales, creating a mini-classic in its own right.
This new tale will appeal to modern and younger readers, but has enough of Dickens’ classic to provide a delightful read for the older reader too. The sometimes pithy wit was well received in this household, as were Flip and Pip’s confusion and responses to situations they found themselves in . Poor Mr Dickens has a rough time of it as well, and his role added a lovely twist/extra layer and dimension that takes it up a notch.
Picking the pandemic as a present-day timeline was a stroke of genius. While most kids of Flip’s age will not have heard or even thought about Dickens’ story, they will instantly relate to that period when they lost freedom, friendships, and saw loved ones if not die, then become sick or seriously ill. This tale ably hits on how life was for each generation, and links and draws comparisons briefly to the cholera epidemic of Victorian times. It also brings together elements of family life, breakups, and tragedy.
One key reason for this plot working so well for us is that the two stories mirror each other in elements that slowly get revealed as the story progresses. Not wishing to spoil things, but it isn’t just the similarity in names that the protagonist Flip shares, but also the life story of key secondary characters as well. So, if you have read Great Expectations, you should be able to see where this is going and why. Though not necessarily how it all works out. That was a lovely twist right at the end, which, while a largish clue was left early on, we ultimately just didn’t see it coming.
The plot starts in late July 2020, the school summer holidays have arrived, and it is the height of the Covid pandemic. 15/16-year-old Philip Gregory, aka Flip, is spending his days out and about on his own, exploring the Kent Marshes near his home. His mother is a nurse practitioner in the A&E of a local hospital, managing the brunt and cruel side of the virus. On his latest walk, he heads up a rise and finds in the valley beyond, and hidden from view, an abandoned Victorian redbrick house behind a wired fence. Dilapidated and boarded up, he finds his way inside. What awaits him is a sort of house stuck in time; cobwebs, mouldy old furniture abound, and rubbish left by other visitors is the only sign of modern-day life.
Then, out of the blue, he sees a young, imperious-looking girl about his age, staring at him from an upper landing. Stranger yet, it seems she was expecting him. She calls him Pip, a name he hasn’t been called since early childhood, and has a task for him to complete. Unwittingly, Flip seems to have been seconded to undertake a task for Miss H. Curious how the girl knew his past name, and despite his protestations to the contrary that he is not ‘Pip’, the girl introduces herself as Estella, and leads a confused Flip, aka Pip to where he is to work. He has been tasked with cataloguing all the items in the house’s large and dusty attic, and to look out in particular for a large book that Miss H has lost.
During the search, which does not go well, Flip finds an old and loaded rifle and blows out an attic window by mistake. Taking this as the ideal reason to flee, he makes his excuses, and heads to the ground floor. Estella is not best pleased and insists that he should return the next day, saying that if he does not, Miss H will have ways to ensure he does.
A surprise awaits Flip that evening as, after a very realistic dream where he is running on the Marshes and comes across a stranger who sounds like his absent dad, he awakes to find Estella in his garden! She is there to ensure he returns the next day, and will confront his mother if Flip does not.
Needless to say, Flip is starting to get worried and overwhelmed by all this, but to keep the peace and not get his mum involved, the next day he returns to the old house, Satis House.
The next day dawns, and Flip heads off to the Marshes, and into what becomes a very exciting adventure. As time progresses, it is obvious to him that he is being drawn into the book, Great Expectations, of which he knows little, and is perceived by other characters as Pip from the novel. Indeed, he seems to become Pip, in clothes and worn appearance. But Flip soon realises he has not replaced Pip, just displaced him. Why this is happening, he doesn't know, but somehow he needs to figure out and quickly to make sure he doesn't get stuck back in Pip's world!
Worse is to come, as the characters are seeping into 2020, too. When he arrives in the study of none other than the author, Charles Dickens, himself, things get really fun, and a touch surreal.
What did I think as both a reader and a published author?
Philip Caveney has skilfully created multiple stories. We have a retelling, albeit abbreviated, of the Dickens classic, then the tale of Flip and his mother and estranged father. Finally, we have the resulting tale as the casts of both come together, in good ways and bad, and across the two other tales, creating a mini-classic in its own right.
This new tale will appeal to modern and younger readers, but has enough of Dickens’ classic to provide a delightful read for the older reader too. The sometimes pithy wit was well received in this household, as were Flip and Pip’s confusion and responses to situations they found themselves in . Poor Mr Dickens has a rough time of it as well, and his role added a lovely twist/extra layer and dimension that takes it up a notch.
Picking the pandemic as a present-day timeline was a stroke of genius. While most kids of Flip’s age will not have heard or even thought about Dickens’ story, they will instantly relate to that period when they lost freedom, friendships, and saw loved ones if not die, then become sick or seriously ill. This tale ably hits on how life was for each generation, and links and draws comparisons briefly to the cholera epidemic of Victorian times. It also brings together elements of family life, breakups, and tragedy.
One key reason for this plot working so well for us is that the two stories mirror each other in elements that slowly get revealed as the story progresses. Not wishing to spoil things, but it isn’t just the similarity in names that the protagonist Flip shares, but also the life story of key secondary characters as well. So, if you have read Great Expectations, you should be able to see where this is going and why. Though not necessarily how it all works out. That was a lovely twist right at the end, which, while a largish clue was left early on, we ultimately just didn’t see it coming.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews