Return to Gone-Away

This sequel is just as enchanting as the first book! The Blake family purchases the big and mysterious house that is the Villa Caprice. The family begins a journey of fixing it up and find all sorts of wonderful things along the way that tells stories of its past and the queer woman who lived there. A suit of armor, an attic full of valuable furniture, a hidden safe, and much more! The children often run down to visit Aunt Minnehaha and Uncle Pin at Gone Away and in turn are visited by the eccentric brother and sister at the Villa Caprice to see how the work is coming along, and of course telling stories about what is found and reliving old memories. This is a simply beautiful story of a fixer upper with an exciting ending!

This is the sequel to Gone Away Lake, and it pretty much picks up from where the first book left off. The Blakes were able to purchase the Villa Caprice that the kids discovered in the first book. The family is back for another summer and continues to clean and restore the house. In the beginning of the story, Aunt Minnehaha tells a story and informs the family that there used to be a hidden safe in the house, which Julian makes it his mission to find. This is not the main plot of the story, as with the first book, this has no main plot, but just follows the children throughout their summer. And just like the first book, this is a wonderful and charming story that adults and children will enjoy. It is just as good as the first book. I highly recommend it!!!

I bought this book and "Gone Away Lake" for my 10-year old son. He liked them a lot, and I loved them. If I had discovered these books as a child, they would have been some of my favorites. I highly recommend them both.

Enright makes her first foray into juvenile mystery as an element of this story. The Blakes have purchased Mrs. Brace-Gideon's old mansion, the Villa Caprice, just back from Gone-Away Lake, to be their summer home. The focus of the book is in their efforts to restore it--and in the children's quest to discover the hidden safe which (so their "Aunt" Minnehaha tells them) exists somewhere in the house. I always find myself wishing I could get my hands on a house like this one! Another splendid Enright, gloriously returned to print.

Elizabeth Enright is an extraordinary author. I've read three books by her (Gone Away Lake, Return To Gone Away, and The Four Story Mistake) and I wanted to know more about the families. I felt like I knew the characters. I appreciate what Miss Enright left for us.

I was happy to see this book, a few years back, as a part of a classroom reading set. I use it in my fifth grade classroom. The myterious setting, plot and unique but real characters with the yarns of the past, are beloved by fifth graders. The book is so popular I am down to fifteen copies. Our poor school district finally passed a levy and then I find its out of print. I hope that it comes back into print so I don't have to end this anxiously awaited reading.