A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama

Laura Schlitz's story of Maud, the least well behaved child at the Barbary Female Orphans asylum, reads like a classic Edwardian orphan story. Like Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Little Princess, the story has a moral center in the psychological dilemmas of childhood, which resonate with those of adult life. The telling is limpidly clear, supported by vivid period detail, and utterly absorbing. Like Harry Potter, the most famous orphan hero of the present, Maud has a rich and real life, in which loneliness, loyalty, affection, confusion and despair all vie for a central place. Reading this as an adult, I fell into the story the way I shivered in Sarah Crewe's attic and trembled in the maze that lured Harry out of Hogwarts. A great children's book opens children's eyes about the adult world, while reminding adults of what it feels like to be a child. This is one such and I commend it to anyone who has befriended a lonely orphan--on paper or in life--and been enriched by the experience.

This is a book of fully realized characters, beautifully simple language, vivid historical details, and a refreshing, believable plot. The amazing thing is that it's actually quite an old plotline, at least superficially: Will the plucky orphan find happiness? (I guess that's why she called it a Melodrama.) But what the author does with the old story is wonderful. In the first few scenes, where the reader knows Maud is being used but she doesn't, the tension makes you keep reading because while you know there's something not right about her guardians, it's not clear what. By the time we know what the unethical plan the grown ups have for the little girl, we are invested in finding out what happens to her. Great pacing. From the first scene, wherein Maud is being punished by being locked in the outhouse in the cold and sings to keep herself warm and her defiance intact, I loved the spirited, flawed heroine. And the supporting characters are complex in a way worthy of Dickens. Who's the good guy? Who's the bad guy? If they do bad things for good reasons are they still bad? Sorry to gush, but it's been years since I've been this excited about a book at this reading level. (Appropriate, I think, for 4th or 5th grade and up but with nuances that will keep adults interested.)

Maud, like all the characters, is a fully realized human, full of contradictions and imperfections--and all the more loveable for it. I disagree with calling this a "melodrama": there is no mustache-twirling villain, and, instead, the action in this unique, highly imaginative and original story is entirely character-driven. What happens (and it's highly entertaining and emotionally gripping) feels inevitable because of who these characters are. I found it completely absorbing (and stayed up way, way later than I should have!) and believed and lived in every word.

Wonderful book! Laura is my librarian and is amazingly gifted in the art of storytelling. I also reccomend her other book- I used it for a reasearch project!

Some authors excel at first-sentence fabulousness. Laura Amy Schlitz is no exception. "On the morning of the best day of her life, Maud Flynn was locked in the outhouse, singing, The Battle Hymn of the Republic." So begins what could well be one of the smartest conceits for a book I've read in a very long time. To my mind, the best children's books are the ones that set up mysterious, possibly otherworldly, potential and then slip into reality without losing any of their magic. "The Secret Garden", by Frances Hodgson Burnett might be a good example of this. So too is, "A Drowned Maiden's Hair". Telling a tale that makes use of early 20th century beliefs and cons, the title grabs the reader by the throat on page one and doesn't let go for the entirety of the reading. And the ending? The most satisfying I've read in years. You poor readers who haven't perused it yet. You have my deep and abiding pity. Someone has adopted Maud Flynn and no one is more amazed than the girl in question. I mean, the day was no different from any other to begin with. Maud was locked in the outhouse for being disruptive (again) and then this beautiful old woman appeared out of the blue and just adopted her! The woman's name is Hyacinth Hawthorne and she and her two sisters have taken Maud into their home for a very specific purpose. It turns out that the Hawthorne sisters are con artists who pose as spiritualists for the rich and unhappy. Want to contact your dear departed wife before you rewed? Call on Hyacinth. At the moment the sisters are desperate for money and they see Maud as their ticket to freedom. An extremely rich woman, one Mrs. Lambert, has offered a huge sum of cash if anyone can successfully contact her dead child. Maud's role? To play that child. She cannot exit the house. She cannot play with other children. She must be good at all times. But as much as Maud wants to please her caretakers, she unexpectedly finds herself befriending Mrs. Lambert, seeing the dead girl she's to impersonate in her dreams, and discovering that her new family may not love her even one little bit. She's just a kid, but she's about to face some tough choices. I have received a note from someone asking that I not give away any of the plot of this book in this review. I do not personally believe that this review reveals too much or even describes some of the more mysterious actions taken by the author, but for those of you who prefer surprises, you may wish to stop reading as this point. One prejudice against children's book I've heard is that the black and white of take on what is good and what is bad is part of the literary package. Some people seem to believe that subtlety and writing for kids are two elements that do not mix. Nothing could be farther from the truth and Ms. Schlitz is a living example. There are many people in this book that do morally questionable things. The Hawthorne sisters are three very different people, but all three h