Back from camping!

[osprey_archer]

I am returned from my camping trip! We had a fire and I successfully cooked a grilled cheese sandwich on a skillet over the coals, very slightly burned on one side, but the cheese was melty and the bread was crispy and overall it was quite a creditable attempt for my first try. And once the weather cleared up, I had a lovely walk through the woods and the marsh, and then on the last morning along the beach by Lake Michigan.

However, the first couple of days were rainy and cold, so I did LOTS of reading, including Carol Ryrie Brink's The Bad Times of Irma Baumlein. I always enjoy Brink's books, but the more I read the more I see why Caddie Woodlawn is the one that is remembered; her books are all fun but Caddie Woodlawn is the only one that has that certain extra something that lifts it up and makes it more than that.

Also I read E. D. E. N. Southworth's Hidden Hand. Southworth was a prolific and popular author of sensation novels in the mid-nineteenth century (immortalized in Little Women as S. L. A. N. G. Northbury), and this is her most famous book, and I am aghast! exasperated! to tell you that it's only the first half of the story, the second half being contained in the sequel Capitola's Peril (Capitola is our heroine, who first appears on the scene eking out an existence as a slangy newsboy in New York City), so when I reached the end of Hidden Hand I was left on TENTERHOOKS regarding... well, everything, really!

But particularly the outlaw who intends to kidnap Capitola. He has been hired to kill her! Then meets and falls in love with her! (Are we doing a redemption arc?) So he's going to kidnap her, keep her for a week, and THEN fulfill his contract to kill her. (NO we are not.) Will spirited, liberty-loving Capitola foil this plot? And will Clara manage to escape the machinations of her newly-acquired evil guardian (who is Capitola's evil uncle although Capitola doesn't know it because he had her kidnapped and sent away as a baby)? And is Capitola's evil uncle holding Capitola's mother captive??

Fortunately now that I have returned to civilization, I have downloaded Capitola's Peril, so I may soon know the answers to these questions!

Comments

[asakiyume]

Wow, that's as exciting a tale as any invented in modern-day fantasy! I could see being and E.D.E.N. Southworth fan if I had been born in the right era!

[osprey_archer]

There is INCREDIBLY a lot going on in Hidden Hand! Truly exciting.

[oracne]

Ooh, camping AND grilled cheese!

[osprey_archer]

The grilled cheese was a spur of the moment addition! I was quite pleased with it tbh.

[littlerhymes]

I await updates on Capitola's peril!!

[osprey_archer]

A wicked fortuneteller has just told Capitola that she will kill the one she loves most! Blood, blood on her hands! Capitola scoffs and rides off into the storm and is about to enter the mysterious Hidden House (owned by her Evil Uncle whom she doesn't know is her uncle) to await the end of the rain.

[littlerhymes]

OMG AN EVIL UNCLE? Everything about this sounds wildly over the top (positive).

[osprey_archer]

SECRET evil uncle who is perhaps keeping Capitola's mother CAPTIVE IN THE ATTIC.

[littlerhymes]

BETTER AND BETTER

[skygiants]

Aw, Capitola! the pluckiest girl that ever careened out of New York to take the Gothic novel by storm!! I have terribly fond memories of her and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time with her ...

[osprey_archer]

Capitola is truly a gem and I love her.

[philomytha]

Just to let you know that I have just started Capitola's EPIC ADVENTURES thanks to your reviews and this book is a RIDE. Completely shameless use of coincidence, Rich Uncle showering money all over the place, and Secrets galore, it's perfection.

[osprey_archer]

Oh hooray, I'm so delighted! This book is SUCH a ride; LOVE how Rich Uncle goes to New York and the first person he meets is Capitola, in drag.