The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Cottage in the Woods by Katherine Coville Jeannette Hulick Coville, Katherine The Cottage in the Woods. Knopf, 2015 389p Library ed. ISBN 978-0-385-75574-0 $19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-75573-3 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-385-75575-7 $10.99 R Gr. 5-8 Ursula Brown, a young bear, has just been hired as governess for little cub Teddy Vaughn at the Cottage in the Woods, a manor house in the Enchanted Forest. Both Enchanted animals and humans live in the area, and some of the humans are agitating for stricter laws governing the Enchanted creatures. In the cottage, Ursula encounters an abused young human girl, dubbed Goldilocks, who has secretly been taken in by the kind bear family. When a menacing woman (who falsely professes to be Goldilocks’ mother) and the anti-Enchanted group get wind of the girl’s presence, all heck breaks loose, and Goldilocks’ future is threatened. Will Goldilocks get to stay with the Vaughns? And will Ursula find happiness with her yearned-for Mr. Bentley or turn her affections towards Reverend Wright? Fortunately for gentle readers, this is the kind of lightly gothic tale that ends happily ever after. While the writerly period style (“With a deep sense of melancholy, I came to the conclusion that I must simply resign myself to the specter of Nurse’s hateful countenance popping out at me at any moment like some depraved jack-in-the-box”) may challenge less patient readers, the Victorian echoes will appeal to others. The classic tropes of mysterious manor house, villainous nemeses, and impossible love affairs are appealingly presented, and middle-graders who like fairy-tale fiction and enjoy period melodrama may find this title just right. [End Page 394] Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois