Meanwhile, Back at the Castle

I just want to add my applause to the previous review. "Meanwhile, Back at the Castle" was one of my favorite books when I was a teenager, and although the book has long been out of print, I've always longed to find it in a thrift store or a used bookstore so that I could have the pleasure of reading it again. No such luck for me, so if you ever find a copy, grab it -- you might not get a second chance. It's a fun, outrageous story, and while it is told with a light hand it doesn't duck some difficult social issues current at the time the book was published. A dated, story, yes, but one I'd love to spend some time with again.

This book is one of my all-time favorites. It's extremely funny; the characters are interesting and well-written, and the plot moves very fast! You can never tell where it's going to go next.This is the story of a teenage girl and her family (parents and two brothers), who buy a small island in the St. Lawrence seaway when they suddenly come into an unexpected inheritance. The catch is, that when US and Canadian boundaries were established, each country thought this island belonged to the other! So now they don't just have an island; they have an independent country!Setting up international relations and dealing with things like immigrants are things that the family never planned on, and their creative solutions are hilarious.Though this book is usually classified as "young adult," I still enjoy it, though I'm long past that age. One warning, though -- the book was set in the turbulent 60's, and it's rather dated. It's been out of print a long time, but I would love to get a copy of it someday.