Grange House

-Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., MN

When 17-year-old Maisie Thomas arrives at Grange House in 1896, she can hardly contain her longings for the future. Determined not to settle for marriage, the expected path for women of her class, she ponders how people's choices determine their fates and those of others. During her family's yearly summer retreats to Grange House from Boston, Maisie has grown acquainted with the reclusive Miss Grange, who spends most of her time in the mansion's attic apartment. This summer, she shares stories and letters with Maisie, who is intrigued by the various accounts of the Grange family's tragic past. Only after several deaths and revelations of old secrets does Maisie learn her own part in that history. First novelist Blake notes that the novel was inspired in part by her great-grandparents' courtship letters. Ghostly handprints, mistaken identities, and ill-fated romances reveal her fascination with Victorian literature. Public library patrons sharing this interest will relish the dense atmosphere in a novel where nothing is quite as it seems, though readers seeking definite answers to straightforward questions may be more irritated than entertained.


-Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., MN

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