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Elizabeth Enright lived from 1907 to 1968. Born in Illinois, she ended up in the Northeast, mainly New York. Her uncle was Frank Lloyd Wright, the great architect. She at first studied to be an artist then studied to be a dancer under Martha Graham, the famous dancer and leader of her own dance company. She married and had three boys and started to write. Enright ended up winning the 1938 Newbery Medal for her book Thimble Summer. The two Gone-away books, which this review is about, appeared in 1957 and 1961.
Portia Blake and her little brother Foster, who live in New York City, go for their summer vacation to the little town of Creston in up-state New York to stay with their aunt and uncle and their cousin Julian. During the summer in which Gone-Away Lake takes place, the three children discover a turn-of-the century (1880-1900) fashionable lake-side resort, which was gradually abandoned as the lake dried up. It is now a rush-filled swamp, surrounded by decaying grand mansions. They meet two elderly people who grew up there when it was a fashionable resort and have returned, in their reduced financial circumstances, to live as squatters in the remains. The elderly brother and sister, Pindar and Minnehaha, are joyful and a little bit eccentric people whose memories and stories are like a time machine for the children. These stories and memories help the children to envision the past when Gone-Away Lake, a name coined by the two old people, since the lake that the resort was built around had “gone away,” was a fashionable, glittering resort attended by the upper-crust society of 60 years before.
Enright’s concept for this book, centered around this decayed resort, is one of the most original ideas I have ever encountered in a middle school novel. Exploring this faded resort is almost like an archaeological expedition for Portia, Foster, and Julian, with new discoveries being made all summer. Added to that originality are lovely writing and sparkling characters, which all goes into making an excellent story. Gone-Away Lake was the runner-up for the 1957 Newbery Medal.
The sequel to Gone-Away Lake, Return to Gone-Away, is, in my opinion, even better than the original. In the first book, the children discovered that there was one large house, Villa Caprice, which had been owned by a formidable lady named Mrs. Brace-Gideon. The house was still in good condition as it had been so carefully sealed that it had never been opened or vandalized. They did manage to break-in and briefly explore and were thrilled by a small taste of what was inside. In Return to Gone-Away, Portia and Foster’s parents have decided to move to Gone-Away Lake to be near their relatives in Creston. They purchase Villa Caprice cheaply, just for back-taxes we assume, as Mrs. Brace-Gideon had had no heirs. Most of the book is the fascinating story of finding all the treasures and mysteries of Villa Caprice and repairing and remodeling it to be a family home. The Blake family is aided by the recollections of the elderly brother and sister, which give insight into the character and thinking of Mrs. Brace-Gideon.
Stories of this “great lady” make the children realize just how formidable she really was and help to further re-create the now-vanished lively life of the Victorian Age resort. I won’t give anything away…but finding what the interior of the house was like and gradually fixing it up to be livable for the family is greatly helped by some of the amazing discoveries made inside Villa Caprice. The interactions between the children are realistic but warm and friendly, which is a pleasure to read and in contrast to much of modern middle-grade literature.
Both books, but especially the sequel, remind me of one of my favorite types of literature -rebuilding a civilization from either virgin wilderness or from a ruined culture. The characters are bringing order out of chaos; they are restoring old things to become useful again. “Behold, all things are made new!” is from the Bible and expresses, among other more important things, many people’s great love of restoring old furniture, cars, airplanes, and books. We like making old things new. Return to Gone-Away is one large restoration project!
Before ending, I want to note that Enright’s series about another family of children, the Melendys, having adventures together in old New York City then out in the country is also worth reading. It consists of four volumes: The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, Then There Were Five, and Spiderweb for Two. Lots of humor, adventure, and even culture, since the Melendy children all love books and theater.