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A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 2,045 ratings · 425 reviews

Maud Flynn is known at the orphanage for her impertinence, so when the charming Miss Hyacinth and her sister choose Maud to take home with them, the girl is as baffled as anyone.

Hardcover, 389 pages

Published September 12th 2006 by Candlewick Press

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Apr 10, 2012 Lauren rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-book-i-read-as-an-adult, orphans, ouija-board-would-you-help-me

I enjoyed this book a lot. I read it in one sitting. Our heroine is an orphan named Maud. We meet her singing a battle anthem in the outhouse. She'd been unruly all day and infuriating her teachers. We are introduced right away to the fact that Maud is honest with herself. She admits when she's been bad or frustrating to the teachers. This characteristic sticks with the main character throughout the book.
She's no saint but she's honest to herself and to the reader. When she is dishonest though...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Maud, the protagonist of this tale, is an orphan growing up during the early 1900's. All reader's cringe! Then, two sisters seem to save Maud, taking her in as their own. Reader's cheer and feel warm and fuzzy inside! That's when we discover the truth. The sisters adopt Maud to use her as a "ghost" during seances in order to bilk people of their money and give them false hope. Readers feel outrage and become disheartened! Maud must choose. The acceptance of the sisters and a home or doing what s...more

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Jul 20, 2009 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: award-winner, historicalfiction, middlegrade, 2009

At the Barbary Asylum, every child was strictly classified: a girl was pretty or plain, clever or stupid, good or bad. Maud knew quite well that she was plain, clever and bad.

Maud Flynn, growing up in the Barbary Asylum, knows exactly how much she's worth: not much. She's willful and plain, and gets into too much trouble to be ever considered for adoption. So when Hyacinth and Judith Hawthorne waltz into Barbary Asylum looking for a child and insist on leaving with Maud, it's hard to tell who is...more At the Barbary Asylum, every child was strictly classified: a girl was pretty or plain, clever or stupid, good or bad. Maud knew quite well that she was plain, clever and bad.

Maud Flynn, growing up in the Barbary Asylum, knows exactly how much she's worth: not much. She's willful and plain, and gets into too much trouble to be ever considered for adoption. So when Hyacinth and Judith Hawthorne waltz into Barbary Asylum looking for a child and insist on leaving with Maud, it's hard to tell who is more surprised--the headmistress or Maud herself.

At first, life with the Hawthorne sisters is a dream come true. They buy her new clothes and books, and feed her delicious food. But after the novelty of life outside the Asylum wears off, Maud begins to question the strangeness of her situation--because she is a secret child. The Hawthornes keep her confined to the third floor, and don't let anyone know that they had adopted a child.

Soon, Maud discovers the truth. The Hawthornes are mediums, and they need a child in order to bilk a wealthy woman out of her money as she tries to contact her dead daughter. Maud is willing to do anything to keep her new home and make the Hawthornes love her--but how far is too far?

There is a great idea for a story here, but the thing that really makes this book is Maud. She is just so genuine--she leaps off the page and feels like a real little girl. She's tough and proud and fiesty, but also broken inside. She rarely lets it show, but there are moments when I just wanted to wrap her in my arms and hold her. Maud broke my heart into teeny tiny pieces.

This book also has a chillingly deceptive villain, and what's so impressive is that you only see her through Maud's adoring eyes. Maud is not stupid, but she is desperate for love and desperate to be wanted, so the picture we see of the Hawthornes is colored by what she wants so badly--and yet we still have a very complete, well-rounded picture of the Hawthornes.

That's another thing I love about this book. No one--including Maud's enemies in the Barbary Asylum--is one dimensional. They are all so well-rounded and three dimensional--the villainous characters have their good moments, and the good characters sometimes have a temper and make hasty unfortunate decisions. Everyone is real.

This is the second time I'm reading this book, and the second time it has made me tear up at the end. It's a quiet book, but it's the kind of book that burrows into your heart and finds a permanant home there. (less)

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Jul 22, 2008 Lynne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: accelerated-reader, caudill-2008-09

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

Mar 06, 2008 Ealaindraoi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, 2008

How far would you go, to be loved?

In spite of the name and cover art, this isn’t historical fantasy; it’s really a straight historical fiction with a little mystery thrown in. In fact, it reminded me a bit of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Maud is an orphan, “plain, clever and bad” at the Barbary Asylum for Female Orphans, when suddenly to everyone’s surprise 3 elderly sisters adopt her. Maud is determined to leave behind her bad ways and behave like a lady for the three sisters, one of whom she...more

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Apr 09, 2007 Jennie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonrequired-work-reading

All Maud wants is to be adopted and to have a real family again. When the elderly Hawthorne sisters take her home, Maud is overjoyed. She has nice clothes, good food, and indoor plumbing. What Maud doesn’t have is any friends—she’s not allowed to go to school or see visitors. Maud is a secret, and when she finds out why, she has some very tough decisions to make about what’s important.

This was a very moving story about the compelling need for love and a home, versus doing what is right. At the s...more

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Jul 15, 2008 Jess rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Jr. High Girls, Fans of kid-lit orphans, adults who like YA fiction

Shelves: z_08, caudill-09, historical-fiction, juniors

Maud (11)adores Hyacinth Hawthorn--who, along with her sisters, adopts her--so much that she doesn't question when asked to hid in the attic nor does she object to playing a role"family business." Participation may have it's costs.

Brisk, fun, and absorbing. A Gothic novel deserving of the subtitle.

Folks, we've got ourselves a Melodrama and a delightful one at that: A plucky kid-lit orphan, haughty "aunts," a need for Maud to be hidden in the attic, feigned seances, a rich client, and so forth....more

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Feb 01, 2009 Mi_twilite why are you lokkin 4 my last name??? u R A Stalker rated it 4 of 5 stars

A Drowned Maiden's Hair is a great rainy day book. It is about an orphan who is adopted by three elderly sisters to aid them in a money-making scheme. The author told the story through a 10-year-old's perspective vividly, making the connections and presumptions you wouldn't usually expect. (example; at first she thought ping-pong was a food)It is a little boring and has very little action, but its something nice and mellow to read if you are bored. I wouldn't recommend this as a book report book...more

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Jan 31, 2009 Krysten rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: children-s-lit-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Summary: Maud is an orphan who gets adopted by the three elderly Hawthorne sisters who are fake mediums and spiritualists. Her favorite is Hyacinth, though she is temperamental. The sisters use Maud for seances to get money to pay their mortgage. Maud befriends the deaf servant, Muffet, and teaches her to read some. The Hawthornes, Maud, and Muffet all go to Cape Calypso to hold some very important seances with Mrs. Lambert who lost her daughter to a drowning accident. Maud is a secret child and...more Summary: Maud is an orphan who gets adopted by the three elderly Hawthorne sisters who are fake mediums and spiritualists. Her favorite is Hyacinth, though she is temperamental. The sisters use Maud for seances to get money to pay their mortgage. Maud befriends the deaf servant, Muffet, and teaches her to read some. The Hawthornes, Maud, and Muffet all go to Cape Calypso to hold some very important seances with Mrs. Lambert who lost her daughter to a drowning accident. Maud is a secret child and the public don't know she is there to keep the seances believable as Maud plays Mrs. Lambert's deceased daughter, Caroline. Though she is supposed to hide, Maud starts to go out to the ocean and to the boardwalk to stare at the merry-go-round, where she meets Mrs. Lambert. Eventually, Maud learns that Hyacinth is really only self-serving and not loving, and she feels badly about tricking Mrs. Lambert, especially since she started having dreams about Caroline telling her things to say to her mother. During a seance, the Hawthorne's house catches fire and Maud is left to burn to protect the secret. Muffet is the only one who cares enough to be upset about Maud being stuck in the house, but nobody knows about her and Muffet gets hurt trying to save Maud. Meanwhile, Maud had already sneaked out of the house and was fine, except everyone left and she is alone without a way to reach her guardians. She sleeps on the boardwalk and talks to the man who runs the merry-go-round, telling him the whole truth about the Hawthorne sisters and tricking Mrs. Lambert. He takes her to Mrs. Lambert's hotel and makes her promise to tell Mrs. Lambert the truth. She does and Hyacinth renounces her and sends her back to the orphanage, which she hates. Mrs. Lambert is furious about being tricked, but keeps Muffet as a servant, and Muffet convinces her that Maud isn't bad and they go to adopt her, fulfilling Maud's dream of finally having a home and being loved, and giving Mrs. Lambert a daughter again.

Evaluation: I really liked this book. It was a very interesting look into the life of an orphan in the late 1800s, especially since she was involved with seances and spiritualism. I loved the character development of Maud and how she came to see what a terrible and volatile person that Hyacinth was, and she grew to be kind to Mrs. Lambert and Muffet. Lots of emotion with a fun setting and great characters.(less)

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Jan 24, 2009 Deb rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-books-read, middle-school-kids-ya-books

As I was reading this novel at school, one of my 6th grade girls stopped by my chair and gushed, "Oh I LOVED this book! It was SO good!" She is an avid reader, and is truly gifted in the areas of reading and language arts. I was still at the beginning of the book so I just said, I'd let her know how I liked it when I was done.

I'd like to say I loved it too. I can't say that. It was only okay as far as I was concerned. But I can see the appeal for some of my readers. The author bills it as a mel...more

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May 13, 2013 Lynn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, mystery

I picked this up on a whim in a used bookstore, and I am so glad I did! This is one of the most unique plots I've seen for a kid's book, and very well done.

This is a well researched historical fiction/mystery that takes place in 1909. A seemingly wealthy elderly lady adopts the scruffy, scrawny, surly Maude. At first Maude thinks she's in heaven, and doesn't question why she must be a 'secret' to anyone outside of the house.

There are two mysteries here. The first is why Maude must be kept secre...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Katie Van Domelen rated it 3 of 5 stars

So this is one of those recommendation engine fails - Kindle showed it to me as something I would like. I happened to be looking for something easy to read in the car on a trip to Mendocino, read a couple lines of the description (not a typical topic, sounds like there will be a fun plot and potentially crazy characters...I'm in!)

Part way through I get the distinct feeling that it is a children's (or young-adult) book haha, a couple clicks to realize that yes indeed it is.

That said, I'm not co...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars

I would hand this over to a preteen girl without qualm, and I usually have a lot of qualms about picking books for kids. I don't like them to be syrupy or too "funny" (which often translates as "adults writing weird, crass stuff that isn't actually funny" to me) or written at a level that really should insult any discerning child. Quality writing matters, people, and if a child is taught that crap books are acceptable, then they will be one of those people who only read "beach reads" and magazin...more I would hand this over to a preteen girl without qualm, and I usually have a lot of qualms about picking books for kids. I don't like them to be syrupy or too "funny" (which often translates as "adults writing weird, crass stuff that isn't actually funny" to me) or written at a level that really should insult any discerning child. Quality writing matters, people, and if a child is taught that crap books are acceptable, then they will be one of those people who only read "beach reads" and magazines and dishonor your family name in general.

Schlitz, on the other hand, is quality.

Much like "Splendors and Glooms", this book features really nice, well-detailed characters and plotting that sweeps you right along. It's also a bit of a history lesson into spiritualism in the early 1900s, which is a nifty time period to think about. Maud is wonderful, a child who is both rebellious and canny, who knows the difference between right and wrong but also knows a little about survivalism. Her decisions are natural, if conflicted, and I liked watching her work things out.

The most sinister character is probably Miss Hyacinth, who is a blonde beauty cast in the Mrs Coulter (of "His Dark Materials) mold. Admittedly, this is the sort of character I like the best: the one who seems to say and do the right things according to society, but who have an undercurrent of nastiness that I think kids sense intuitively but sometimes override because of what they've been taught about manners and socially acceptable behavior. So I like reading books that confirm yes, your suspicion about that oily-smooth person is correct, stick to your guns. The adults in Maud's life frequently do the wrong thing, or at least the pettier thing: they show cowardice and greed and cruelty and hypocrisy, and Maud witnesses it all. They're textured, layered humans, and they make the story come to life.

Things get tied up a little too neatly at the end for me, but ah well. A great book that doesn't insult its audience while also being accessible. Hard trick to pull off, well done here.(less)

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Jun 09, 2012 Cory rated it 5 of 5 stars

Laura Amy Schlitz has composed an excellent masterpiece that I could not bear to put down, a book titled A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama. This a brilliant example of how a very conventional Gothic-written story, with very traditional tropes can still be an enormously well-written novel. It features a feisty orphan named Maud Flynn, dastardly villains by the names of Hyacinth, Judith, and Victoria, fake-seances, and an amazing ending after a lot of drama and loads of ups and down. Throughou...more Laura Amy Schlitz has composed an excellent masterpiece that I could not bear to put down, a book titled A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama. This a brilliant example of how a very conventional Gothic-written story, with very traditional tropes can still be an enormously well-written novel. It features a feisty orphan named Maud Flynn, dastardly villains by the names of Hyacinth, Judith, and Victoria, fake-seances, and an amazing ending after a lot of drama and loads of ups and down. Throughout the story, Schlitz portrayed the thoughts, emotions, and reasoning of eleven year old Maud Flynn perfectly. So much so, in fact, that I was incredulous she could remember what it felt like to be a child! Besides this prodigious accomplishment, Mrs. Lambert's feelings of desperation and guilt over her eight year old daughter's drowning brings tears to your eyes. Every character, from the manipulating Hyacinth to the bold eight year old Caroline Lambert, obviously took time to develop and fabricate. That is to say that they are very creative, compelling, attractive characters that are more than half the reason why I like this book. I also took notice to Schlitz's writing style. The third person point of view that the author establishes adds a slightly unique touch to the book, and it allows to to experience many of the characters' thoughts and emotions all at once. Which makes reading it fun! This, as well as the uniquely interesting vocabulary Schlitz uses, forces you to enjoy the book even more. The conflict was excruciatingly sad, starting with Maud getting adopted by three fake mediums, or ghost whisperers. As the story goes on, the sweet and depressed Mrs. Lambert comes along and wins a spot in Maud's heart—right when the ghost whisperers are trying to fool her by “summoning” her dead daughter. I thought this was very capturing, and every sentence left me begging for more. The flabbergasting events that coated the conflict and resolution kept my eyes glued to the pages. I especially admired the event where the deaf, mustached servant girl, Muffet, writes her real name (Anna), and creates a special bond between her and Maud. It is touching and slightly depressing, similar to many of the scenes in this book. A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama is a perfect read for those of you who love a dark, sad, Gothic story that has a marvelous ending, an
awe- inspiring resolution, and that is an amazing book altogether. Before you read this, though, I must warn you to prepare yourself for an excellently written awe-inspiring masterpiece that I guarantee will grip your attention and not let go.(less)

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Mar 10, 2012 Caroline rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like historical fiction and/or true to life drama

This book would probably be good for younger teens - of course, I am nowhere near being a younger teen (or even an older teen) and I enjoyed it, so...

The story is set in the early 1900s. We are introduced to Maud, who is an orphan, as she is singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic while locked in the outhouse for misbehaving. Poor Maud has been neglected for so long that she would do almost anything to get someone to notice her and care about her. This part of her character makes what happens to...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was surprised when I saw the copyright date on this book, because I had never heard of it. But it just got moved to my list of top favorites. I'm a sucker for books about children who are mistreated - maybe that's why I'm such a Dickens fan - and this story told strictly from the child's point of view, captured my heart. I fell in love with little Maud, with all her quirks and all her wisdom. She is rescued from an orphanage by a pair of older women who are sisters and then she is kept hidden,...more

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Apr 08, 2010 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 16, 2010 Juushika rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: status-borrowed

Adopted from an orphanage by the three elderly Hawthorne sisters, Maud believes that all of her dreams have come true. But when the sisters that Maud must remain hidden in the house and reveal that they have a use for her, Maud discovers that she has not quite found the perfect family that she was looking for. A Drowned Maiden's Hair is swift but not simple: the easy prose and mysterious plot draw the reader in, but it's thorny questions of honesty and searches for love that keep him thinking an...more Adopted from an orphanage by the three elderly Hawthorne sisters, Maud believes that all of her dreams have come true. But when the sisters that Maud must remain hidden in the house and reveal that they have a use for her, Maud discovers that she has not quite found the perfect family that she was looking for. A Drowned Maiden's Hair is swift but not simple: the easy prose and mysterious plot draw the reader in, but it's thorny questions of honesty and searches for love that keep him thinking and feeling throughout the book. With transparent infodumps and a too-perfect resolution, the book isn't perfectbut it's addictive, enjoyable, and surprisingly tender. I recommend it.

I devoured A Drowned Maiden's Hair in one afternoon of quiet, contented reading. Schiltz's voice is unremarkable but incredibly easy to read, letting the read slip straight into the heart of the story. The plot begins as a mystery to hook the reader; once that mystery is revealed, it tends towards predictablebut spirited, bright Maud is beyond prediction, and her inner struggles are the true heart of the book. The conflict between her suspicions and her desire for love never tends towards maudlin; instead, it is believable and character-driven, bringing nuance to the morality-tale aspects and making Maud both empathetic and empowering.

The book is dragged down a bit by that predictable plot, and also by transparent infodumps (where characters relay their entire backstory) and by a too-swift, too-simple resolution. But these weaknesses are never prominent enough to become irritating, and Maud and some of the better supporting characters are strong enough to support the book despite them. A Drowned Maiden's Hair is a quick and enjoyable read filled unexpected but lovely emotion. Gently heartbreaking, empowering, and always clever, Maud and her personal journeys are not the most advanced, but they are still tender and true. Though not a book I need to read again, A Drowned Maiden's Hair is truly enjoyableI recommend it.(less)

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Nov 29, 2009 Lacey Louwagie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, youngadult

The full title of this book is actually "A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama." The subtitle led me to expect that this wouldn't be a very serious read -- that, indeed, it was a book that didn't even take itself seriously.

Despite billing itself rather lightly, this book manages to tackle some big questions about integrity, spirituality, and the need to belong. Laura Amy Schlitz uses a common convention in children's literature: her protagonist, Maud, is an orphan. Although she's unpopular with t...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Brenda rated it 4 of 5 stars

After I had finished reading Splendors and Glooms, I kept thinking about it - the characters, the setting, the plot. I kept smelling the smells and feeling the feelings both real and emotional. The writing stayed with me and so I began exploring and several different people suggested I read A Drowned Maiden's Hair. They thought of it as their Laura Amy Schlitz favorite. So of course I gave it a try - wow!

Maud is a strong willed child. She's feisty and she very likely to defy Miss Kitterage, the...more

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Apr 17, 2009 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who roots for spunky orphans (particularly plain ones!)

Recommended to Jennifer by: Kristen

Shelves: read-young-adult, read-2009

Maud Flynn, an orphan, is small for her age, plain, not very well-behaved, and smart. Much to her surprise, these qualities make her attractive to Hyacinth Hawthorne, one of two strange and elderly visitors to the Barbary Asylum for Female Orphans. Hyacinth and her sister, Judith, have come to the orphanage to find an eight-year-old girl child, but on Hyacinth's whim, they take 11-year-old Maud instead.

Before she quite knows what has hit her, Maud is spirited away to live with the Hawthornes, wh...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Arlene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens

I got this book for $1.99 on Kindle so I thought I would give it a try. Maud Flynn is a spirited girl who has lost her family and is forced to live in the Barbary Asylum for Orphans. When three maiden ladies decide to adopt her, Maud pins her hopes on finding a home at last. At first, everything is just what Maud thought she wanted. But she finds out that the ladies adopted her in order to use her in their nefarious business of swindling grieving people. The Hawthorne ladies claim to be mediums...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Maud is the eleven year old heroine of this story. She doesn't start out as the typical sweet and beautiful but unjustly treated heroine. She is a trouble maker and deserves the punishment she gets. After losing her parents to illness, she and her older brother and baby sister are sent to an orphanage. A farmer and his wife come to the orphanage looking for a strong boy to help around the farm and choose the older brother. The wife falls in love with Maud's beautiful baby sister but the couple h...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Catherine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, historical-fiction

Wow! I really loved this book! Maud is an orphan who's pretty convinced that she's never going to be adopted since she is clever, not pretty, and not a good, obedient girl. When Hyacinth, hears Maud singing from her solitary confinement in the outhouse, she chooses to adopt Maud and bring her to Hyacinth's home that she shares with her two sisters.

The story then spirals into what appears to be a happily ever after tale. Maud is given nice clothes and offered as many books as she desires. She ido...more

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Mar 17, 2009 Karin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-caudill-nominees, bizarre-in-a-bad-way, juvenile-fiction, orphans, ghosts-and-spirits, mediums, audio-edition, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Maude is adopted by the Hawthorne sisters (three older spinsters) who are looking for a young girl to help them with the family business. She doesn’t learn what that means until much later. Maude is captivated by the younger of the sisters, Hyacinth, who makes her feel loved and cherished and wanted – but only so long as it suits her needs and purposes. The middle sister, Victoria, is against the trade the sisters ply, and the elder sister, Judith, is strict and forbidding. Maude, naturally, gra...more Maude is adopted by the Hawthorne sisters (three older spinsters) who are looking for a young girl to help them with the family business. She doesn’t learn what that means until much later. Maude is captivated by the younger of the sisters, Hyacinth, who makes her feel loved and cherished and wanted – but only so long as it suits her needs and purposes. The middle sister, Victoria, is against the trade the sisters ply, and the elder sister, Judith, is strict and forbidding. Maude, naturally, gravitates toward Hyacinth. When she learns that the sisters want her to participate in seances and to pretend to be the dead, drowned child of a Mrs. Lambert, Maude is excited! She wants to be helpful, and the supernatural is pretty fascinating. She also wants to please Hyacinth. Eventually, however, Maude learns that Hyacinth is really self-centered, narcissistic, and cruel, and Maude’s own sense of what is right won’t allow her to lie to the kindly Mrs. Lambert any longer. She reveals the truth and humiliates the Hawthorne sisters – also ruining her chances for a family.

Things have a way of working out, however, and Mrs. Lambert offers to adopt Maude instead. She’s hesitant to trust again, but is eventually won over – both by Mrs. Lambert’s determination, and through the love and friendship of Muffett (Anna, the Hawthorne’s former servant).

I was slightly disappointed in this – only because it wasn’t the sort of story I was expecting. I was all prepared for it to be an Anne of Green Gables type of tale – where mostly nice things happen to formerly orphaned girls. And, in some respects this was. But Maude, the young protagonist, just wasn’t Anne. And the women who adopted her were no Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert. It’s got that darkness in it that so many books for young people have these days. Maude is a secret, Hyacinth has these unplumbed depths of cruelty, Maude is left to die in a fire that may well have been orchestrated by Hyacinth – not to mention all of the deceptions of the Hawthorne sisters. Would Maude have been able to lie as effortlessly as they if Hyacinth had shown her more affection? Probably. She’s just eleven, but this whole experience is going to enter into the formation of her adult character. It must have been decidedly strange for her. And she must have been particularly desperate.

Because this deals with the occult, it’s sure to attract readers who are interested in that sort of thing. Of course, it doesn’t really prove that there are any spirits – it shows the actual side of what mediums do to hoodwink and swindle the people they’re supposedly trying to help. I much preferred the protagonist in Ghosts I Have Been, by Robert Peck. She was spunkier and more independent (older, too).(less)

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Feb 28, 2013 7706lola rated it 5 of 5 stars

I just finished reading the poignant, eloquent, pleasurable to peruse novel, A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz. This astute book is about a young girl, Maud Flynn, who, according to the Barbary Asylum, the female orphanage in which she unfortunately resides, is “plain, clever, and bad”. She is astounded herself when she is adopted by the Misses Hawthorne, Hyacinth, Judith, and Victoria. She enjoys being pampered and embraced while she settles into life with the elderly sisters: as she...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Auggie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Maud is an 11 year old girl that pretty much get's the short end of the stick regarding everything. Her haughty attitude is one born from having to find strength to overcome her sometimes bleak circumstances. Her parents have died, her brother and sister have been adopted by a family that didn't want her, and now she's in a house full of 3 batty women who have their paws in something rather dirty.

As young as our character is she maintains an odd sort of grown up sensibility that the reader will...more Maud is an 11 year old girl that pretty much get's the short end of the stick regarding everything. Her haughty attitude is one born from having to find strength to overcome her sometimes bleak circumstances. Her parents have died, her brother and sister have been adopted by a family that didn't want her, and now she's in a house full of 3 batty women who have their paws in something rather dirty.

As young as our character is she maintains an odd sort of grown up sensibility that the reader will find themselves wondering about, and even feeling proud of her over. However, she's very obstinate and there are a few times throughout the book that the 'mother-hen' side of me had irritation prickling due to her bad behavior.

In the end, Maud is a very real, very natural child who is trying to understand her misfortune and somehow rise above it.

The characters are well enough created, but I'm sorry that Aunt Violet's story wasn't expanded upon. It became my desire to find the good out of the apparent rottenness of the ladies and amongst the three women (Judith, Violet, and Hyacinth), Violet was the most likeable and the easiest to feel sorry for. Regarding Hyacinth, who was the worst of the group, I found her character to at first be suspicious and then incredibly boring as the chapters continued.

For the most part the book was highly predictable, but no less entertaining for it. In fact, you find yourself hoping that what you're predicting actually does happen. Maud's stubbornness creates humor and her antics adventure. Despite its general predictability there were a few moments I was actually holding my breath, unsure of what the outcome of Maud's careless actions would be.

In the end a Drowned Maiden's Hair is a story of discovering honor to live in the truth, maintaining hope when their seems to be none, and finding strength and love in unlikely places.

No convoluted writing style, no difficult to interpret meaning. Just a nice book to curl up with on a good and rainy day.

By the way. My favorite character was Muffet, the deaf house servant. She was absolutely lovely! Find out for yourself.(less)

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Feb 25, 2012 Kia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow, what a great story! My 12-year-old daughter insisted that I read it and when she really raves about a book, she's always right. A Drowned Maiden's Hair is written for a female YA audience but I can't imagine any grown woman (or maybe even man) wouldn't be ensnared by it. It's the story of Maud, an orphan who is adopted by three elderly sisters in the early 20th Century. Turns out they are a trio of "mediums" and the story is told against the backdrop of the Spiritualist craze at that time....more

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Feb 20, 2013 Alice Cai rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 3rd-quarter-2013

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 17, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a refreshing book! I felt a little skeptical when I borrowed it from the library, but once I began reading it, I was caught up in the plight of little Maud, a spunky orphan who definitely is not the favorite in the orphanage. Some reviewers have compared this book to The Series of Unfortunate Events, and I have to respectfully disagree. In the Series, even the "nice" adults are not so nice, and some are even whimpy; ill fate is sure to befall them so the children never have hope. In Ms.Schl...more

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About Laura Amy Schlitz

Laura Amy Schlitz has spent most of her life as a librarian and professional storyteller. She is currently a librarian at the Park School in Baltimore, where she has worked since 1991. She is a winner of the 2008 John Newbery award for her book Good Masters, Sweet Ladies!

Ms. Schlitz lives in the Loch Hill section of Baltimore County. She is single with no children.

She has also been a playwright,...more

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Books by Laura Amy Schlitz

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village

The Bearskinner: A Tale of the Brothers Grimm

The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer Who Dug for Troy

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