The Secret Of Goldenrod

The Secret Of Goldenrod

Juvenile fiction
"The house was not what she had expected. It didn't need to be
fixed up. It needed to be torn down. Boards covered all the windows,
and the few shutters that remained dangled from their hinges. Pillars
that would have held up a porch roof, if the porch had still been
there, lay in the weeds like fallen trees."
Trina/Citrine, protagonist of Jane O'Reilly's The Secret Of
Goldenrod, has no connection with her globe trotting mother other than
the post cards she gets from various exotic locations. She wishes her
mom would discover herself enough to be contented to stay with her.
In the meantime she and her father traverse the country. His job is
fixing up old homes in bad condition for other people. As the story
begins they are approaching one that fills her with trepidation. Not
only does its physical condition leave a lot to be desired, but there
are indications of supernatural presences. Maybe the house itself is
the entity.
The house is on the outskirts of a tiny town in the boonies.
The long time inhabitants seem to be united in their fear of their
temporary abode. The waitress at the diner they go to their first
morning tells them nobody can live in the house because it's haunted.
The school secretary seconds her opinion.
School is anything but a good place. Charlotte, the girl who
sits behind Citrine takes an instant dislike to her, calling her
Latrine and telling her the other kids are on her side. It's worse
than her other times of being the new kid in places where everyone
knew each other.
Citrine does discover one friend, Augustine, she can confide in
and feel accepted by...
A three inch tall doll who she discovers inhabiting a dollhouse
in a hidden room...
A doll who can somehow walk and talk...
On a personal note, last week we had a wonderful Black Lives Matter
breakfast at UMaine. The breakfast was yummy--eggs, fried potatoes,
fruit salad, pastries, orange juice, and, of course, coffee. I got to
sit next to the primary speaker who took down the names of books I
mentioned and was quite fascinated by my cross stitch.
A great big shout out goes out to all who participated in the event.
jules hathaway



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