Helpful Score: 1
I've had this book since childhood. I wrote an inscription on the inside endpapers noting that I got the book on Veteran's Day, 1959...I would have been 9 years old then! I actually remember buying the book with my parents at a store we stopped at to get ice cream after a drive that day. I was drawn to the cover of the book which shows an old lady climbing some steps in a creepy old house that looks haunted with a bat flying overhead. But did I ever read the book when I was young? I think I started it a couple of times but never finished it because it was more of a girls story...I was more into reading the Hardy Boys. Anyway, I decided I should finally read this because it is probably the oldest book I have that was actually part of my childhood collection.
And yes, it is a girl's story taking place in the mid-1930s (published in 1937 by Goldsmith Publishing). The story is about a young orphan named Marcia Lambert who had been in a guardianship in Europe since her parents were killed in a car accident. She returns from Europe, where she had gone on a shopping spree in Paris, to her Aunt Hattie living in New York who is her new guardian. Her aunt tells her they are going to the small town of Huntsville in New Jersey to spend the summer at the old home of Marcia's family which is surrounded by a high hedge and thus called High Hedges. Marcia is not thrilled about this...she would rather be in the city or go back to Europe for the summer. But she meets some people in Huntsville including neighbors Sharon and Kent and their friends Betty and Tubby. At first she is reluctant to associate with these people but she eventually comes to like them and have fun with them at the beach and at home. Tubby reminded me of Chet Morton from the Hardy Boys, always hungry and ready to eat. He is also 17 and has an old jalopy to drive. Turns out Marcia is 15 although at the start of the story she seems much younger. Kent had been in an accident and was in a wheel chair with paralyzed legs. While staying at the house, an old tale is told about the "Heel Woman" who makes tapping noises on the stairs or walls which seem to foretell some bad event about to happen. The tapping is heard by Marcia and her friends and later by her aunt as well. So is it a ghost? Another part of the story is a mystery surrounding a hired man named George who was an unemployed person during the time. (The story takes place during the Depression). Is George a crook out for no good? And then there's Kent and Sharon's father who has been missing since WWI. Is he still alive?
Well, as usual in these mystery stories for young people, a lot coincidences and miracles seem to happen. This one also shows the better parts of living during the Depression with Marcia's family living with servants and partying on yachts. George is considered bad because he had no employment records or means of support. I did kind of enjoy this for what it is but I think I agree with my boyhood self and would stick to reading the Hardy Boys!
And yes, it is a girl's story taking place in the mid-1930s (published in 1937 by Goldsmith Publishing). The story is about a young orphan named Marcia Lambert who had been in a guardianship in Europe since her parents were killed in a car accident. She returns from Europe, where she had gone on a shopping spree in Paris, to her Aunt Hattie living in New York who is her new guardian. Her aunt tells her they are going to the small town of Huntsville in New Jersey to spend the summer at the old home of Marcia's family which is surrounded by a high hedge and thus called High Hedges. Marcia is not thrilled about this...she would rather be in the city or go back to Europe for the summer. But she meets some people in Huntsville including neighbors Sharon and Kent and their friends Betty and Tubby. At first she is reluctant to associate with these people but she eventually comes to like them and have fun with them at the beach and at home. Tubby reminded me of Chet Morton from the Hardy Boys, always hungry and ready to eat. He is also 17 and has an old jalopy to drive. Turns out Marcia is 15 although at the start of the story she seems much younger. Kent had been in an accident and was in a wheel chair with paralyzed legs. While staying at the house, an old tale is told about the "Heel Woman" who makes tapping noises on the stairs or walls which seem to foretell some bad event about to happen. The tapping is heard by Marcia and her friends and later by her aunt as well. So is it a ghost? Another part of the story is a mystery surrounding a hired man named George who was an unemployed person during the time. (The story takes place during the Depression). Is George a crook out for no good? And then there's Kent and Sharon's father who has been missing since WWI. Is he still alive?
Well, as usual in these mystery stories for young people, a lot coincidences and miracles seem to happen. This one also shows the better parts of living during the Depression with Marcia's family living with servants and partying on yachts. George is considered bad because he had no employment records or means of support. I did kind of enjoy this for what it is but I think I agree with my boyhood self and would stick to reading the Hardy Boys!
