Gone-Away Lake

4.5 stars. This book was a joy to read. I'm sure I would have liked it as a kid, but I think I enjoyed it even more reading it as an adult, because so much of it reminded me of my own childhood. I was a child of simple tastes: I loved playing outdoors, being in the country, loved animals and birds,......more

It probably says volumes about my childhood that this book, with the secret Victorian ghost town on a bogged-up lake, is one of my most treasured memories. A secret clubhouse in a falling-down mansion? License to forage among the other houses? Trunk after trunk of treasures, everything from clothes......more

This is my all-time favorite book. What began as a summer read after fourth grade has turned into a career, a passion and a huge part of myself. This book not only made me fall in love with Victorian houses, but also with childrens' books, art, historic preservation and any old decrepit house I happ......more

'"What have you got in your mouth?" "Tooth braces." "Holy cat! When you smile, it looks just like the front of a Buick!" Now probably if a brother had said that, she would have been mad, Portia thought. But he didn't say it the way a brother would have; he said it politely and she agreed with him.' I......more

In this book, published in 1957, Portia and her cousin Julian, exploring the woods near Julian's new house, discover Gone-Away Lake, which is actually a vast swamp. They learn it used to be a lake called Tarrigo and a summer resort community in the 1890s. When the lake drained away, the row of Victo......more