Ellen Fremedon, Journalist

Ellen Fremedon wants nothing more than to see her name in print, and know that people are savoring every word that she puts down on paper. But things aren't always that easy. For instance, she's already tried her hand at writing a novel, and failed miserably with the task. But now that the summer has arrived, Ellen thinks that she may have the opportunity to prove herself a successful writer after all. So, with the help of her best friend, Jenny, as well as the privacy of Something Cottage (Somecot for short), Ellen decides to do the unexpected...create a newspaper! After the misunderstanding that took place last year regarding Ellen's twin younger brothers, Timmy and Toby, Ellen wants nothing more than to have the opportunity to print the truth. After all, there are too many lies in the world, and Ellen sees this as her opportunity to right as many untruths as she possibly can. The only problem is that Ellen can't come to a decision regarding what she'll write about. Sure, she'll include recipes and death announcements, and Jenny will illustrate the pages with her artistic skills, but Ellen has the hard job...finding interesting, hard-hitting news that her neighbors will want to learn more about. When Ellen realizes that two new people have mysteriously dropped into the small town of Partridge Cove, she believes that she's found her subjects. There's Mrs. T., the religious old woman working for her family as a housekeeper/cook, who spends her days terrorizing Timmy and Toby with talk of God striking down on sinners; and then there's the elusive new woman next door. No one knows anything about her, aside from the fact that she always wears a large-brimmed hat, and sunglasses, and a mysterious man from Seattle arrives at her place every Wednesday to remove boxes from the premises. Ellen decides to take on a job weeding the garden for the middle-aged quiet old woman, in an attempt to investigate, but the more she speaks to the woman, the more Ellen realizes that she's revealing more about herself, than she is snooping into her subject's life. I missed the first book in the series titled ELLEN FREMEDON, but when I stumbled upon the sequel ELLEN FREMEDON, JOURNALIST, I knew that I had to have it. I love reading tales about aspiring journalist's who sideline as amateur detectives, and from page one fell in love with Ellen Fremedon's character. Ellen is a cross between Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet M. Welsch (of HARRIET THE SPY), and Carolyn Keene's NANCY DREW. Her determination to snoop into the lives of everyone around her, whether they're rich and famous, or middle-aged and retired is beyond enjoyable; while her curiosity regarding absolutely everything around her is insatiable. Like author James Howe, Joan Givner does not shy away from subjects that many authors try to ignore. She includes information and characters who are exposed to adoption, homosexuality, and invalidism on a daily basis; while, at the same time, touching on subjects such as thieve