The Museum of Mary Child (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Museum of Mary Child Karen Coats Golds, Cassandra . The Museum of Mary Child. Kane Miller, 2009329p. ISBN 978-1-935279-13-6$16.99 R Gr. 6-9 Heloise's life in the care of her godmother, who rejects all love as a waste and a trap, is joyless and oppressive; Godmother even forbids Heloise the pleasures of books, dolls, and human contact with anyone other than herself and her equally dour housekeeper. When Heloise finds a doll hidden in the floorboards of her room, she lavishes her affection on it, but when her secret possession is discovered, Heloise also learns the source of her godmother's hatred and fear: Heloise's mother, Mary Child, was quite mad, and the museum that her godmother oversees contains hundreds of Mary's cloth dolls, whose faces have been sewn over with tight black stitches and who have been unearthed from every conceivable hiding place an old house might offer. A frightened Heloise flees and finds aid and succor in the outside world, which eventually imbue her with the strength to face the remaining mysteries of her strange past. The sweetness of this tale of an unloved, cast-off waif who eventually finds affection and happiness blends with a full complement of the uncanny, and its prettily turned present-tense narration is edged with sufficient eeriness to send occasional shivers up the spine. Gothic sensibilities and conventions peek through a veil of Dickensian settings to gild a plot that is most reminiscent of a fairy tale, complete with avian helpers and a disguised and imprisoned prince. Though unlikely to appeal to a broad range of tastes, those who like it will really like it; think cult appeal for the nascent goth crowd. [End Page 154] Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois