The Little Locksmith Author:Katharine Butler Hathaway From the dust jacket: "The great adventure which brought this unique and appealing book into being begins in Salem, Massachusetts. It begins in the mind of a young girl forced by fate to build her own world within reach of her two hands. It comes to a triumphant conclusion with the book itself-a work of such clear and tender quality, both in the... more » writing and in its revelation of the author's personality, that its publication becomes a landmark in creative writing.
In THE LITTLE LOCKSMITH...a truly civilized human being grows to maturity. The loneliness of childhood, first assuaged by the creation of a delicate and graceful world of the imagination, becomes the spur to a greater understanding of self, of friend, of the nature of the human spirit. And from introspection and loneliness grows a superbly perceptive personality. It is an autobiographical narrative, a narrative chronicling great events: the visit of the comforting father to the bedroom of the child, the girl's discovery of the beauty of a summer night, the woman's excitement when she finally purchases her first house-at Castine on Penobscot Bay in Maine. THE LITTLE LOCKSMITH is a deep and loving analysis of intimate family relationships told with astonishing candor and simplicity..."« less