56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Message in the Hollow Oak - Part 2/2

Week 16, Book 12

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post. This is Part Two in a two part discussion. You can find Part One here.

Edition pictured: Revised text (20 chapters, 181 pages)

Cover illustrated by: Rudy Nappi

Revised text publication date: 1972

Original text publication date: 1935

My edition printed: 1990 or later

Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

Editors: Edna Stratemeyer Squier & Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Revised by: Grace Grote (In this case, the term “revised” is used loosely. This is a completely different book from the OT written by Wirt Benson.)

Setting: River Heights; New York City; St. Louis, Missouri; countryside near Cairo, Illinois

Originally published in 1935, I will be reviewing the revised text (RT) edition of The Message in the Hollow Oak, published in 1972 and pictured above. 

Nancy’s Aunt Eloise invites Nancy to New York. A detective friend of hers, Boyce Osborne a.k.a. Boycey, needs Nancy’s help on a baffling case (1-2). Upon arrival at Aunt Eloise’s “apartment house”, Nancy gets stuck in the elevator (4). When she finally gets out, Boycey tells Nancy all about the message in the hollow oak that him and his detective buddies were trying to find while they were on holiday. The message was supposed to be left by a French-Canadian missionary travelling through Illinois in the late 1600s (8-9). The one catch is a man called Kit Kadle wants to find the message first (10).

Boycey suggests that when Nancy gets to Illinois she could stay with the girls at the archeological dig that is going on in the area (13). Ned’s cousin, Julie Anne, just happens to be joining the dig, so the two girls agree to meet up in St. Louis (16-17). After Bess and George leave her at the airport, Nancy gets the feeling that a man is watching her (17). Unfortunately, he boards the same plane as Nancy and sits next to her, then proceeds to ask her increasingly personal questions about the reason for her trip (18-19). Nancy lands in St. Louis, meets up with Julie Anne who tells her all about the dig and Nancy in turn tells the other girl about the hollow oak (21-23). 

After a helicopter ride, the two girls arrive at the site of the dig. The students welcome Nancy with open arms, as does the dig leader, Teresa Bancroft (28-30). (I assumed Teresa was meant to be an archeologist as she has a group of university students from a class she teaches, but, annoyingly, she is only referred to as a “dig leader” throughout the book.) Her first night there, her sleep is disturbed by a strange voice calling her name (30). From then on, things just get weirder, not to mention more dangerous around the dig and throughout Nancy’s search for a specific hollow oak, of which there are many. Apparently, the Illinois countryside is positively riddled with the things!

In this one, Nancy — you guessed it — finds the message in the hollow oak. Even with multiple plane rides, helicopter trips, and a lot of traipsing around the countryside in dubious vehicles, Nancy still has time to get stuck in an elevator (4), extricate an barnyard intruder from her bedroom (32), attend a religious service (32), acquire a “good-luck coin” (40-41), spend days not looking for the hollow oak, chase more intruders, human this time (54), spend way, way too much time worrying that her new friend Art is jealous of Ned, go on a multi-day towboat tour with new friends and old (92-121), take countless motorcycle rides into town, help out on an archeological dig (50-51), show off her French translation skills (175-176), eat 21 meals, three snacks, including an odd combination of doughnuts and apples, kindly provided by a marshal’s deputy. 

Time of year

While Nancy is away in Illinois, she calls her father who relays the message that Ned Nickerson is very eager to get in contact with her. She tries three numbers, hoping to find him, but is unsuccessful.

    “Nancy sat in the phone booth another half a minute thinking of the tall, good-looking young man. Right now he was working on a summer job, selling insurance.” (58)

Ned attends Emerson College during the school year, so we can assume that this book is set somewhere between May and early September.

Timeline

Starting on a Friday and ending on a Thursday, this book is set over 21 days, making it one of the more spread out timelines of these books, and it feels it. Nancy spends a lot of days not investigating, which instead of creating tension and anticipation that Kit Kadle might find the message in the hollow oak first, it made me lose interest in the story.

The original text is better

Before reading this one, I had planned on following my usual format for these posts. However, having read the original text (OT) edition for this title first, I ruined all possibly of enjoying this book. My logic was the same that I apply to films, when I have the option available, I watch the original before the remake. Of course, that can backfire, as the original is usually better. Perhaps the one exception is the 1995 remake of Sabrina with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. The 1954 original, despite having the ever charming Audrey Hepburn in the staring role, falls flat in comparison. Humphrey Bogart playing the love interest of someone who looks almost young enough to be his granddaughter may have had something to do with it. And heaven help me, what kind of love story ends with the music swelling to the couple hugging? If you can’t kiss then, when are you going to kiss?! 

Sorry! I can hear what you’re thinking. “When did this become a film review?” You’re quite right. Back to The Message in the Hollow Oak…

But first, can I just say, this is a prime example of why it has taken me so long to post about this one. I have become a master at avoiding this book. I’d pick it up. Read a few pages. Land on yet another insane scenario. And not exciting insane. At its best, this book was stupid insane, which was frustrating, but at least it helped to keep me awake. Mostly, this book was insanely boring. When I wasn’t taking trips to the kitchen for unnecessary snacks, I was falling asleep part way through a chapter. Now, you have some idea of why this book took me a whopping 11 days to read, when I usually read these books over 1-3 evenings and that’s with taking copious notes. 

My schedule for keeping to one title a week has well and truly gone out the window. Not that I wasn’t a little behind schedule before! I thought I was two weeks behind in posting Part Two of The Message in the Hollow Oak, but I went back to check and over the course of the past 12 titles I've managed to get myself four weeks behind. Let's see if I can get myself caught up!

Now, if you love the RT, this is not a critique on your taste. If I hadn’t read the OT first I might not have so strongly taken against this one. It certainly has me rethinking my theory that I should read the OT first going forward!

For now, I thought I would end with some of the notes I made to myself while reading this one. I wrote these not planning to share them with anyone, so umm, I think I was trying to entertain myself a bit as this book slowly drove me mad. I write notes on the plot as I read these books, and I note now thoughts in ALL CAPS, so they stand out. I've kept my thoughts in this format, as I really did feel like I was yelling at this book as I read. 

I hope you brought your appetite because this book is about to be roasted…

OT Nancy survives a train wreck on the way to the Canadian wilderness, which puts the responsible adult she’s travelling with in the hospital. She handles the situation head on and helps the injured after the wreck. Meanwhile, RT Nancy needs constant comforting from her aunt and the detective friend while stuck in an elevator. — YES, LET’S COMPLETELY STRIP NANCY OF BRAVERY AND COMPETENCY FROM THE OFF.

After finding one hollow oak with a plaque on it, the farmer that is driving Nancy around says he has to go home and won’t be able to drive her again for another THREE DAYS and Julie Anne tells Nancy she probably wouldn’t have been able to get permission to shirk her duties on the dig to help Nancy, anyway (16). — THIS HAS ALL THE SUBTLETY OF A BULL IN A CHINA SHOP. WHY CAN’T NANCY DRIVE HERSELF? OT NANCY GETS INTO A HIGH SPEED CHASE THROUGH THE STREET OF RIVER HEIGHTS TO BRING DOWN A THIEF, BUT RT NANCY CAN'T DRIVE AROUND THE ILLINOIS COUNTRYSIDE?

In the evening the boy student clean the artifacts found on the site while the girls make a “wholesome meal” (44). — GIVE ME A BREAK

Nancy finds a “crudely printed note” left for her. “Nancy took out her magnifying glass and examined the note for fingerprints. There were none on it.” (72) — LOL WHAT WAS NANCY EXPECTING? FOR THE PERSON WHO HAD LEFT IT TO HAVE DIPPED THEIR FINGERS IN INK???

“Holding her hands binocular-fashion around her eyes, Nancy focused not he opposite bank and tried to detect possible footprints. She could see none.” (82) — PROBABLY BECAUSE HOLDING YOUR HANDS LIKE THEY ARE BINOCULARS DOES NOT MAGICALLY TURN THEM INTO BINOCULARS!!! (Note: Nancy is 18 in the RT books, not 5 years old, like one might assume from this scene.) 

More about Nancy thinking Art is jealous of Ned (84). — I FEEL LIKE I’M READING A SWEET VALLEY HIGH

Nancy suggested that they take a taxi to the airfield and meet Ned and the others. During the ride Art did not say a word. When they reached the field he walked off by himself.

    "What's eating him?" Julie Anne asked.

    "Competition," Nancy replied. "Julie Anne, I think you'll have to cheer up poor Art." 

    The girl beamed. "Do you think I ran do it? He's been tagging after you ever since you arrived."

    "Of course you can," Nancy said. "Why don't you start in right now by walking over to him?" 

    Julie Anne liked this idea and set off at once. (93)

 — OH, BROTHER

Art is aloof with Ned (94). Bess notices Art’s attraction to Nancy, then Ned notices it too and now both boys aren’t talking to each other (95). Bess tries to point Art in Julie Anne’s direction and Nancy tells her she wants to encourage him that way too, but they’ll have to take it slow (96). —  AGAIN, AM I READING A SVH???

One night on the towboat, the group has just finished dessert when a log comes through the window. Miraculously, everyone is unhurt except for Dave who has a small cut from the glass. Ever helpful, the boys replace the glass in the window (114). — WHAT, DOES THE TOWBOAT HAVE A SUPPLY OF GLASS ON BOARD FOR WHEN THE WINDOWS GET BLOWN OUT BY ALL THOSE FLOATING LOGS THAT GET PROPELLED ON BOARD??? 

“So much had been going on that the subject of jealousy between him and Ned had been forgotten. Nancy was happy over this and hoped the good relationship would last.” (114) — I'M ROLLING MY EYES. 

Theresa suggests Art lend his motorcycle to Ned so he can drive Nancy into town to make a report to the police. “Nancy was delighted to see that he showed no sign of jealousy.” (139) — OH, BROTHER

More worries about jealousy between Art and Ned (142). — I MEAN, WHY DOES THIS BOOK MAKE NANCY SEEM SO SELF CONSUMED??? 

After being kidnapped, Bob explains how he was able to drop spearheads on the ground as a signal to anyone looking for him. “When the men took me out for exercise, they untied my hands.” (164) — LOL OH, SURE. ALL KIDNAPPERS TAKE THEIR HOSTAGES OUT FOR EXERCISE 

The letter that is found in the hollow oak includes directions to the treasure, in French, which Nancy translates (175-176). — THE ONLY THING THE RT HAS IN COMMON WITH THE OT IS THAT THERE IS A MESSAGE IN A HOLLOW OAK AND NANCY CAN TRANSLATE FRENCH.

The last chapter is followed by a “Postscript”.

    The Hopewell mound was excavated the following summer and found to contain many perfectly preserved artifacts and fossils, including several bird effigies in stone, and a rare baby's cradle. At a luncheon celebration which followed the event, Nancy was praised for having added valuable information to the archaeological knowledge of America.

    With a smile she said, “All the credit belongs to Père François and his message in the hollow oak." (182) 

— NO EXCITING TREASURE AND NANCY DIDN’T EVEN GET TO DIG IT UP HERSELF. HONESTLY, COULD THIS BOOK HAVE BEEN MORE ANTICLIMACTIC???

Final thoughts

I think that about covers it. I hope you had a giggle, or were at the very least mildly amused. If you are planning to read The Message in the Hollow Oak, I recommend sticking with the OT if you can get your hands on a copy. If you must read both, like I felt I did, I would suggest either reading the two versions far apart from each other, or getting the RT out of the way first. 

The Mystery of the Ivory Charm is up next. Here’s hoping I have more success with that one!

E. M. Ward - Forest Silver

Have you ever enjoyed a book so much that you wanted to hold it to your chest, keep it to yourself, keep it safe? If you know what I’m talking about, then you will understand my feelings towards E. M. Ward’s Forest Silver.

As someone who feels most like myself in the woods, I thought a book called Forest Silver couldn’t go far wrong. Even so, it took me by surprise. My pre-order arrived in my mailbox last Friday and when I got home from my walk with Clark, I started it right away. Within minutes I was captivated.

    From the narrow road they looked down through tree branches to the lake, that lay rippled and silver bright behind the dark trunks. Almost at the top of the hill they turned off by a little path that led to a gap in the roadside wall. Through the gap they could see into the solemn wood of Bainriggs, now colourless and vague but so sodden with the day's rain that, except in the black tree shadows, everything was changed to silver. The moonlit rocks, the wet sponge of moss upon the ground, leaves, lit spaces of the beech trunks and the stems of birches, always silver but now brighter than in any noontide, all these shone and glittered with a light so wan and yet so brilliant that it seemed like the phosphorescence of a world long dead.
    ‘Forest Silver!' said Blunt, observing all this and thinking of the tax paid long ago by tenants for the right of pasturage in the lord of the manor's woodlands.

The Second World War is going on and Richard Blunt has served with distinction in the R.A.F., winning the Victoria Cross, and being invalided out. After jilting his fiancée in London, he arrives in the Lake District looking for rest and quiet. There he meets 17-year-old, Corys de Bainriggs, the owner of her family’s estate. She agrees to let him stay on her land and they soon form a bond. 

As the relationship between Richard and Corys grows the reader begins to expect that this is going to be a coming of age novel where the young girl becomes a woman and leaves her boyish interests and appearance in childhood. But, thankfully, the narrative is a lot more subtle than that.

As mentioned above, “Forest Silver” is the name of an ancient tax to allow grazing. This novel raises issues of conservation of land. There are many war guests to the area, trying to escape the bombed out cities, and there is a clear dichotomy between how some of them believe the countryside is best enjoyed verses how the locals do.

At one point, desperate for the money, Corys sells a parcel of land. The man who works on her estate has lost his home in a fire and he has been sleeping rough in preference to taking charity. He’s an old man and Corys can’t bear to see him suffer. So she feels she has not choice but to sell land to raise money for the rebuild.

The loss of the land eats away at Corys. Seeing the new owner’s house go up and the once untouched view destroyed, proves to be more than she can bear. But as she explains, when questioned why she sold the land in the first place, she didn’t know how much it would bother her, she didn’t know it would feel like this.

Corys is contrasted against the three Sweeting girls. Collectively referred to as the Sweetings, they are eye-catching with their light blond hair and traditionally feminine appearance. It’s these girls that make Corys more aware of her own appearance, especially when the aptly named, Gerald Lovely comes on the scene, who seems taken with the Sweetings, while disregarding Corys. Corys has no interest in Gerald, but she has a strong desire to have a baby and she has decided that to make this happen, she will one day need to get married. Wanting to prove to herself that she will be able to attract a man when the time comes, she buys new clothes and has her hair done. The experiment works a treat. Soon Gerald is a frequent visitor at Bainriggs. But now that Corys has him, she doesn’t know what to do with him. 

In the background, Richard is jealous of the interest Corys shows in the young man. Although, Richard avoids addressing his feeling for Corys directly, and the only one who seems able to see Richard’s growing love for Corys is her grandmother.  

Now, I think the title Forest Silver is about more than the appearance of the land, or the poetic name of an ancient tax. This is a book about the countryside, but it’s also a book about a young girl figuring out what she is willing to sacrifice. Like the land that she regrets selling and is desperate to get back, she returns to herself at the end of this book. I think Corys learns the valuable lesson that there are some things that one cannot sacrifice and survive. I think Corys will always be the "tall boy" as Richard first takes her to be. And I also think that what Corys’ grandmother said is true. Richard, a man who appreciates Corys as she is, came into her life too early. 

E. M. Ward’s descriptions of the natural world is the sort of writing best savoured slowly. I can’t think of a more fitting book to enjoy on Earth Day. Fans of nature writing will especially enjoy this book. It’s a rare glimpse into the effects of the second world war on a small community. The exploration of society’s expectations of gender and how gender roles are learned and performed is an aspect that I found particularly interesting.

My only regret while reading this book is that I got so engrossed, I didn’t spare the time to mark passages as I went. Thank goodness, I have this one on my shelf. I’ll be sure to tab favourite sections on the inevitable reread.

I really hope this newest release in the British Library's Women Writers series does well, because I would love to see them republish more of E. M. Ward's books in future. 

56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Message in the Hollow Oak - Part 1/2

Week 12, Book 12

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post. I should add that my discussion of The Message in the Hollow Oak is a two-parter. Once Part Two goes live, you will be able to find a link to it here. 

Edition pictured: Original text (25 chapters, 218 pages)

Cover illustrated by: Rudy Nappi

Original text publication date: 1935

My edition printed: approx. 1965

Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

Editors: Edna Stratemeyer Squier & Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Setting: River Heights, Windham, & Wellington Lake in Canada

Originally published in 1935, and for the first time in the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series I will be reviewing the original text (OT) edition of The Message in the Hollow Oak, pictured above. Incidentally, I own copies of this book in both the OT and revised text (RT) formats. (I talk broadly about the OT verses the RT here. The easiest way to distinguish if you are reading the OT or the RT is to check the table of contents page. If your book has 25 chapters it is the OT, all RT books have 20 chapters. Only books 1-34 come in two formats. Books 35-56 were not revised.) I had planned to do one blog post discussing the two together. However, once I started reading the RT I realized this wouldn’t be possible. These are two completely different books that share a title and the scenario of someone hiding a message in an old hollowed out oak tree. As such, this post will be entirely devoted to The Message in the Hollow Oak in the OT, and I will do another post on the RT. We’ve got a lot to discuss, so let’s get started!

Nancy wins a tract of land in Canada in a radio contest and Nancy’s father, Carson, suggests she go take a look at her winnings (3). One of Carson’s clients, who holds extensive lumbering interests in Canada, is familiar with the area in which Nancy’s land is located and tells her it is in the vicinity of a town called Wellington Lake. Carson says Nancy needs to find a responsible adult to accompany her, and his client suggests a friend of his, Mrs. Donnelly, who plans to be travelling to Wellington Lake to open her boarding house for the summer (5). Nancy says it would be a lark if Bess and George could go too. Soon they are catching a train to Canada. But before that can happen, Nancy engages in a high speed chase through the streets of River Heights on the trail of a thief (14-16). She is repeatedly pestered to sell her land, and when that doesn’t work, she is threatened. What’s so special about a tract of undeveloped land in the middle of nowhere? Well, Mrs. Donnelly suggests Nancy’s land may be valuable, as it’s located in an area where gold has recently been found (21). Before you know it, Nancy has caught gold fever, and so have Bess and George. Although, Carson is quick to remind Nancy that it is much more likely that the land will be worthless, which brings her back down to earth.

Unfortunately, before they arrive in Wellington Lake, they are involved in a catastrophic train wreck, sending Mrs. Donnelly to the hospital as well as a woman Nancy has befriended on the train.

In this one, Nancy stops the Yellow Dawn Mining Company, which buys worthless land, issues stock on it, and sells the valueless shares to innocent buyers. She also brings a couple together after twenty years apart, finds a message in a hollow oak, reunites a father with his daughter, and helps to mend the rift between two feuding families. 

She still has time to win a radio contest (2), help an elderly woman (7), show off her daring driving maneuvers (14-16), bake a chocolate cake (24), accept a dinner invitation (25-26), meet a lady novelist on a train and suspect she has a secret sorrow (33-35), survive a train wreck, save Bess from plunging to her death while sleepwalking (45-46), put an ad in the paper (50), hire a car (57), get lost along the way (58), get charged by a bull (59), distinguish a city dweller from a single footprint left in sand (89), stumble over two cats in one dark cellar (113, 115), round up a possé (157), show off her horseback riding skills, dictate a conversation in French and translate it later (169), use deception by omission to get around her father (204), do a little pickpocketing for a good cause (205), steal a bag of gold that is rightfully hers (208-209), destroy a dam with dynamite and flood a valley (211), take three trips by plane, another three by train, eat 11 meals, a cup of cocoa, and a healthy number of flapjacks.

Time of year & timeline

The trend of summery settings in this series continues. When the question of Nancy finding an older person to accompany her to Wellington Lake comes up, a client of Nancy’s father suggests a friend of his, Mrs. Donnelly.

    “She’ll be returning to Canada shortly to open up her boarding house for the summer.” (5)

When Mrs. Donnelly arrives in Wellington Lake there is no pause before she opens her boarding house, so we can safely assume this book takes place during about two weeks at the start of the summer. Mrs. Donnelly could be opening her boarding house on the first day of summer according to the calendar, but the book gives no clear indication, so it may be some other date around this time.

The original Nancy Drew

I mentioned at the outset that this is the first time in these Nancy Drew posts that I would be discussing the OT. RT Nancy, for lack of a better term, is the version of Nancy that I was familiar with growing up. I loved my Nancy Drew! If you had tried to tell me then that she wasn’t the real thing, I probably would have kicked you in the shins! As much as it pains me to say it, if given the option I would choose to read the OT every time. It isn’t just that these books are a bit longer, providing the opportunity for more elaborate plots and more subtle storytelling, but the difference is in Nancy herself. 

Most of us don’t come to these books for the plots. The plots are ultimately forgettable. Unless I’ve just finished reading one of these books, I have a hard time remembering even the broad strokes of the plot. I’m sure I’ve said it before, and I will very likely say it again, it’s Nancy herself that makes these books memorable. Her desire to help others knows no bounds. Even when she is up against it, she stubbornly believes that justice will prevail. She is tirelessly brave. Not to mention, that she is just plain tireless. I’m a bit of a fan. 

But my one issue with Nancy has always been that she is “perfect”. She always follows the rules. She always asks permission. She is always in constant contact with the authorities. All of these are admirable traits for children, but as qualities in an eighteen-year-old girl, they don’t leave a lot of room for relatability. How happy was I to discover that OT Nancy isn’t perfect! This sixteen-year-old manages to behave more like the average teenager, while at the same time she comes across as more streetwise and less naïve than in the RT. (Nancy is 16 in the OT and 18 in the RT.)

In one scene, Nancy is chasing after a man who has stolen an elderly woman’s suitcase. Nancy feels she is at least partially to blame for being deceived by the man’s story about being the woman’s grandson. Having left the man alone with the case, while she runs into the bank to let the elderly woman know her grandson is waiting outside for her, the man seizes the opportunity to speed off with the case.

    As she reached the less congested part of the city, Nancy put on more speed, driving a little faster than the law allowed.

    “If I’m arrested, I’ll have a good reason for it, at least,” she told herself. (14)

Just as she is bemoaning having lost the thief, she spots him crossing an intersection up ahead.

    The Drew girl accelerated the motor, and began the pursuit. Taking the driver of the other car by surprise, she succeeded in drawing abreast of his machine. 

[…]

    As she tooted her horn, the culprit gave her a panic-stricken look, and speeded up. A less courageous driver might have abandoned the chase, but Nancy did not intend to be outdistanced. Again she overtook the car.

[…]

    Suddenly with a sharp twist of the wheel she crossed directly in front of the red car, blocking its path. Either the thief would have to stop, or else cause a crash.

    For one terrifying moment Nancy thought the fellow intended to keep on. Suddenly the brakes screeched on the pavement, and his machine came to a quivering halt. (15-16)

Nancy speeds and overtakes the other driver. She doesn’t “intend to be outdistanced”. She also pulls in front of the other vehicle, and puts herself in harm’s way in the process. Nancy starts the chase with the possibility of getting arrested for speeding and things escalate to the point where she is risking her life to return a woman’s suitcase and see the thief brought to justice.  If RT Nancy were put in this situation, she would have lost vehicle and had to rely on a helpful police officer coming along at the necessary moment, that or she would catch up with the thief while he was making a pit stop. 

Perhaps more surprising than a Nancy who isn’t afraid to break the Law, is a Nancy who questions her father’s authority. When she comes to her father with evidence that a man has been lured away, or possibly taken, from his home with the purpose of stealing his property, her father commends her, but then points out that what she has overheard may be nothing more than idle gossip. 

    “I realize that, but even if the evidence should not bear weight in court, it serves as something upon which to work. I’ve asked Norman Ranny to do a little scouting before we openly accuse Sawtice.”

    “You’ve handled the matter very well,” Mr. Drew praised. “If nothing should develop within the next few hours I shall organize searching parties and comb the woods for Mr. Chap.”

    In spite of her father’s words, Nancy did not feel that she was doing much to help bring about the return of Pierre Chap. The longer she thought about it the more worried did she become. She feared that the delay of a few hours might mean the difference between life and death. (172-173)

She then proceeds to leave camp with Norman Ranny to go do some sleuthing, without first checking with her father, I might add.

Later, she agrees to sign over her land to the unscrupulous man who has been pestering Nancy to sell to him. This man even tried to claim that the land was already owned by him. Nancy agrees to give him the land, but makes the stipulation that Pierre Chap be returned unharmed. Afterwards, Nancy’s father gives her an earful.

    “It was nothing less than stealing,” Mr. Drew declared angrily. “Nancy, I’d never have permitted you to go through with it, had I know what you proposed to do before we went into that tent.”

    “That’s why I didn’t tell you,” the girl smiled. “I lay awake last night thinking and thinking. It seemed to me the only way to save poor old Mr. Chap.” (202-203)

Gold has been found on the land and they are all bemoaning the likely loss of it.

    “I wish I could save the gold, though I don’t see how I can,” Nancy said regretfully. “After all, Pierre Chap’s life is the most important consideration. You aren’t really provoked at me, are you, Father?”

The attorney squeezed her hand.

    “No, I’m very proud of you, Nancy. You have been wonderfully generous. But it infuriates me to think that Sawtice is going to win out in this affair. He should be behind prison bars.” (203)

Despite the fact that Nancy takes the decision making out of her father’s hands with the assumption that it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, the two maintain just as close a relationship as the pair does in the RT books.

Now, the funny thing is that after Nancy’s father has told her how proud of her he is, she turns around and again does something she knows he wouldn’t permit if she asked him about it. When she is alone with Bess and George, she tells them her plan to get the gold.

    “Now is our chance to get the gold,” Nancy whispered to Bess and George. “I didn’t dare mention all my plans when Father was here, for he wouldn’t have permitted me to attempt it.” (204)

That made me laugh. Nancy is just an average teenager, taking praise from her father one minute, and turning around and doing something he wouldn’t have allowed the next!

And after she takes the gold that is rightfully hers, Nancy gets revenge. 

    "Get Mr. Chap out of here as quickly as you can. And everyone meet me in ten minutes at the place where our horses are tied!"

    "What are you going to do?" Carson Drew called after her.

    Intent only upon her purpose, Nancy did not hear him. She ran up the path which led to the dynamite shack. It was her plan to change the course of the stream by blasting the power dam.

    "It's a risky thing to attempt," she told herself grimly, "but if I succeed, Sawtice will never be able to use my property!" (209)

That’s right, Nancy takes justice into her own hands in this one. She helps herself to a stick of dynamite, blows up a dam, and floods her land, so the big baddie, Buck Sawtice, can’t profit off of it. 

I have to say that I think Nancy is a bit of a badass in this book. She solves the mystery, gets the gold, takes revenge — I mean, justice — all while behaving like an imperfect, reckless teenager. I absolutely loved every minute of it!

Favourite quotation

I have so many favourite lines and scenes from this book. But I wanted to share the line that made me realize early on that I was in for a completely different Nancy from the version I was familiar with in the RT books. Nancy has just offered to watch an elderly woman’s suitcase while the woman runs an errand at the bank across the street.

    “It would be a good joke on me if she shouldn’t come back,” the girl thought uneasily. “I’m always getting into trouble doing impulsive things.” (8)

“Impulsive” is one of the last words I would use to describe Nancy in the RT books. She is many things, safe, thoughtful, dependable, methodical, among them, but definitely not impulsive! As commendable as the RT Nancy is, I would take impulsive, lively, and unpredictable Nancy from the OT over her, any day!

56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Clue of the Broken Locket

Week 11, Book 11

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post.

Edition pictured: Revised text (20 chapters, 175 pages)

Cover illustrated by: Rudy Nappi

Revised text publication date: 1965

Original text publication date: 1934

My edition printed: approx. 1985

Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

Editors: Edna Stratemeyer Squier & Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Revised by: Harriet Stratemeyer Adams & Grace Grote

Setting: River Heights & Misty Lake in Maryland

Originally published in 1934, I will be reviewing the revised text edition of The Clue of the Broken Locket, published in 1965 and pictured above. 

Nancy Drew’s lawyer father, Carson, asks Nancy to go to Misty Lake to give a young woman, Cecily Curtis, the keys to a summer cottage owned by one of his clients. Carson also tasks her with finding out what has frightened Henry Winch, the man who was supposed to hand over the keys (1-2). The next day, Nancy and her friends, Bess and George, are on their way to Maryland. Before they reach Misty Lake, they stop for an early supper and come across a man, who looks strangely familiar, and a red-haired woman having an argument about a law suit and an iron bird (7-8). After supper, Nancy and friends have an unfortunate occurrence with a rickety bridge while looking for a missing earring, which involves the red-haired woman. Although, she assures them she isn’t hurt, the woman seems upset, but before they can find out why, she rushes off (9-11).

When they arrive at Misty Lake the owner of the guest house where they plan to stay tells them all about Henry Winch’s experience of seeing the apparition of a phantom launch, and the history behind the long ago boating accident that drowned everyone on board (14-15).

Once at the cottage, Nancy runs into the red-headed woman from earlier, but strangely, the woman flees. Thinking the woman might be Cecily Curtis, Nancy calls after her to asks. But instead of answering, the frightened woman says, “You can’t stop me from getting the babies!” (19) before disappearing into the woods.

Cecily Curtis still hasn’t shown up to get the key, so the young women decide to stay the night. When Cecily does arrive, she is the same red-haired woman from earlier. But apparently her and the woman in the woods are not the same person, they just look remarkably alike (23-25). 

Finding out that Nancy, Bess, and George had been planning to stay the night before she showed up, she asks them to stay and keep her company. Nancy feels unsettled and gets impression Cecily feels similarly (30). What with mistaking a loon call for a screaming woman and Cecily going out in the middle of the night, and Nancy discovering her unconscious with a large bump on her head, by morning the group is chatting like old friends and Cecily tells them all about an iron bird, a broken locket, and Pudding Stone Lake (36-38). She even talks about being engaged to pop singer, Niko Van Dyke, and the law suit regarding royalties owed him by record company (38-39).

With a strange humming noise that they can’t discover the source of, a first hand sighting of the phantom launch, and neighbours that run hot and cold, but mostly cold, the mysteries around Misty Lake begin to stack up. Good thing Nancy is the queen of multitasking!

In this one, Nancy connects a young woman to her relatives, discovers an ancestral fortune that his been hidden since the American Civil War, and stops a gang who pirate pop records and who make a sideline of kidnapping. 

Nancy still finds time in her schedule to buy groceries, drive into town (many times), hang out at the soda shop, practice first aid, buy a record, call it an early night, let her imagination run away with her, rent a canoe, poke around an old house, get trapped on a roof, tidy the cottage, take the canoe out twice, and nearly go down with the ship the second time (sabotage!), chase a prowler, call the boys, take a hike, go for a swim, drive to Baltimore, visit a record label, go to see the Flying Dutchmen play a show, hang out at a soda shop some more, lounge by the fire with the boys, lug the world’s heaviest flamingo home, get scolded by a police chief, feel crushed, buck up, get commended by the police for her excellent detective work (nice one, Nancy), and receive an apology from the police (sweet justice!), eat 19 meals, and 6 snacks, including two rounds of ice cream, cookies and bottles of soda.

Time of year

No detective work necessary to find out what time of year this one is set. Carson Drew tells us.

    Her father explained that since it was the middle of September, there would probably be few vacationers at the lake. “I can’t imaging why Cecily Curtis want to say there. If you meet her, Nancy perhaps you can find out.” (2)

We don’t get much seasonal description in this one. I would have liked a bit about the leaves starting to change and more about the chill air at night, though we do get a bit of that when Nancy takes an unexpected dim in the lake at night. There is a brief description of the river and garden around the Old Mill restaurant that Nancy, Bess, and George stop at on their drive to Misty Lake.

    There was a profusion of many colors and varieties of chrysanthemums, late-blooming roses, and petunias. A path through the center of the garden led directly to a rustic white-painted bridge over a rushing stream. (6-7) 

 

We also know that Ned, Burt, and Dave are able to go to Baltimore to see Niko’s performance “since their college term had not yet started” (85).

Timeline

The action takes place over 10 days. What typically happens in these books is that one of the last days tends to be unusually long. In this one, it’s the ninth day, which straddles five chapters and is very action packed. 

Reading this book as a child

I feel compelled to explain why the edition of this book that I have photographed looks so tattered. It’s the same copy I had as a child and it was handed down to me from a family friend. As I’m sure you have gathered by now, I really loved my Nancy Drew books, and I loved them hard! A few months ago when I was still toying with the idea of reading the first 56 books in this series in as many weeks, I picked this one up off the shelf to read. A handmade bookmark was tucked inside, coloured by me and my niece. Speaking of colouring and drawing, Nancy Drews made for the perfect colouring board. While I had the presence of mind not to colour over the edges of a page when using the book cover as a hard surface, the endpapers didn’t receive the same level of care, judging from the speckles of pencil crayon inside.

The funny thing is, I have a second copy of this title that is a little older than this one. But that one looks equally battered. It makes me think that The Clue of the Broken Locket was a popular title. I loved any Nancy Drew I owned and reread them often, but I especially liked the cover of this one. Three friends wading in the water to investigate a wardrobe. They are wearing suitable attire, jeans and blouses, and its looks as though the shoes they are holding could be canvas. But it was the colours of the artwork that really pleased me. I liked that every girl had their own colour. Although, it did bother me that Nancy’s shoes weren’t yellow to match her top when the other girls’ shoes and tops were the same colour.

I was enthralled with secret passages, hidden treasure, and anything that had a disguised compartment to conceal treasures. A locket seemed like a treasure in itself, and it being something that could carry a photo of a loved one or a secret message, gave me a thrill. 

More of the same, only different

The other thing about this book that captured my imagination isn’t specific to this title, but can be found in a lot of Nancy Drew books. This is a mystery revolving around a lake. We saw a trip to the lake in The Secret of the Old Clock, The Bungalow Mystery, Nancy and her friends visit a swimming hole in The Secret at Red Gate Farm, and a river is made heavy use of in The Mystery at Lilac Inn. There is so much scope in a setting like this. In The Clue of the Broken Locket, there are the woods that surround the lake, the mysterious house with the illuminated bull’s-eye window that shines across the water, and of course there is the water that is put to optimum use by Nancy going out in the canoe, finding a rowboat banked in the mud and hidden by reeds, and holds an important clue. Of course, without a body of water, we wouldn’t have the phantom launch. This book hangs on Henry Winch’s sighting of the ghostly vessel and his reaction to it. Nancy wouldn’t have been sent to Misty Lake by her father, and we wouldn’t have this mystery without a watery setting of some sort.

Of course, lakes are by no means the only reoccurring aspect in this series. Another popular one is mistaken identity. In The Mystery at Lilac Inn, it’s Nancy with the doppelgänger, whereas in this book, it is Cecily Curtis and the frightened woman in the woods. The startling similarity between the two women puts Nancy and the reader on guard. 

    The girl from the White Mill restaurant again! But this time she was not wearing the raincoat and scarf. She had on the same outfit they had seen at the restaurant, and was lugging two suitcases.

    "Oh, hello!" she said pleasantly. "Well, this is a nice surprise! Are you vacationing here?" Nancy and George were confounded. Hadn't the newcomer recognized them? And why had she changed her clothes again?

    "Are you Cecily Curtis?" Nancy asked as the girls hastened to help her.

    "Yes, I am. But how did you know?" 

    Nancy, though bewildered, decided to ask no questions, but she did notice the girl was not yet wearing a wedding ring. She introduced herself and George. "Mr. Winch is out of town, so we came here with the key to open the cottage for you." (23-24)

Bess isn’t as tactful as Nancy, which only throws further suspicion on Cecily.

    By this time the three had entered the cottage.

    At once Bess exclaimed, "I'm so glad you got here, Cecily! We were terribly worried. Why didn't you stay the first time you came?"

    Cecily looked at her blankly. "The first time? I haven't been here before."

    It was Bess's turn to look perplexed. "You mean you weren't up in the woods on your way here a few hours ago?"

    Cecily shook her head. "If you thought you saw me, I must have a double in the vicinity." She changed the subject. "I had an awful time getting to this cottage. A bus brought me to Misty Lake village from Baltimore, and I tried to get a taxi to bring me here. Nobody wanted to, but finally one man agreed to drive me as far as the end of the lane. I had to lug these bags and my cat all the rest of the way." (24-25)

Is Cecily’s account of her actions truthful, or was she lurking in the woods by the cottage? What begins by adding confusion to the case is turned on its head when Nancy uses Cecily’s similarity to the other red-headed woman to fool the woman’s suspected kidnappers. 

Suddenly Nancy asked, "Who is that red-haired girl down on the beach? Do you know her?" 

The question had an electrifying effect on the Driscolls. They rushed to the window and looked out over the bluff. Cecily was in plain sight below.

Now she turned as if heading for the misty end of the lake. With a muttered excuse, Karl Driscoll fairly ran into the kitchen. The girls dared not follow, but they heard a door close softly and footsteps pounding down the cellar stairs.

[…]

With difficulty, Nancy kept calm. She was sure her ruse had worked! The other red-haired girl was being held in the house and the Driscolls thought she had escaped!

"Now to hunt for the prisoner!" Nancy thought. (140)

They don’t get the opportunity to search the house right away, but using the similarity between the two red-headed women to advantage Nancy confirms her suspicions that the woman is being held hostage in the house.

Come to think of it, in The Mystery at Lilac Inn Nancy uses the similarity between herself and the woman impersonating her to advantage too. Nancy impersonates the woman, which helps her gain insider access to the woman’s nefarious scheme. Perhaps a more appropriate title for this section would have been, simply, "More of the same"!

Favourite quotation

Since I spent some time earlier in this post reminiscing, I’ve selected a passage that I know I would have gotten a kick out of as a child. And as my sense of humour hasn’t changed much over the years, I still love this snippet of dialogue as in it Nancy uses one of my favourite words in the Nancy Drew lexicon.

    “And now, about that other red-haired girl. I have two completely opposite ideas about her. One is that she is in cahoots with the Driscolls in some underhanded scheme; the other is that she’s their prisoner or is somehow in their power.” (110)

Nancy Drew loves using the word cahoots, and so do I!