Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Mistress Masham's Repose

Mistress Masham's Repose
reviewed on


The blurb on the back calls this "a masterpiece of fantasy and wonder," and I think it is. I read it long ago and saw fit to keep it, though I have forgotten a lot of the story.

An orphaned ten-year-old girl, living in an enormous, broken-down house with her governess, visits a little island in the middle of a lake and finds it inhabited by tiny people. The adults around her try to keep her from doing what she knows she must do.

This is a children's book, but its involved story, literary and historical references, and good vocabulary make it also enjoyable for adults. My copy is 231 pages of ordinary-sized print--a good-sized read.