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Jul 20, 2009

Lucy rated it:

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 More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2008

Lynne rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 06, 2008

Ealaindraoi rated it:

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 thre More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 09, 2007

Jennie rated it:

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 rig More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2008

Jess rated it:

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 at More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2009

Mi_twilite rated it:

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 boo More...

1 comment like

Jan 31, 2009

Krysten rated it:

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Jan 24, 2009

Deb rated it:

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. More...

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Feb 12, 2012

Julie rated it:

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 hid More...

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Apr 08, 2010

Ashley rated it:

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Feb 16, 2010

Juushika rated it:

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...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 29, 2009

Lacey rated it:

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 More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

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 More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2011

Catherine rated it:

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 d More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 17, 2009

Barky rated it:

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Oct 26, 2011

Lauren rated it:

A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schiltz was many things to me.
1. The premise was immediately enticing. The idea was odd, in a way, but I found it entertaining.
2. The story was nicely paced. It felt short in spite of the book being rather large. It progressed with an even speed with no lagging space.
3. The characters were very whimsical. From the scheming Hawthornes to the valiant Maud and to even silent Anna ("Muffet"), there was really not a dull ch More...

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Jun 16, 2008

Lora rated it:

It seems a pity to tell potential readers exactly what the Hawthorne sisters'family business is, because I enjoyed discovering it gradually myself. Maud is quite an engaging and believable character in the melodramatic tradition of plucky orphans. Despite some of its formulaic devices, this novel thoroughly entertained me.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 16, 2007

Melody rated it:

Not at all what I'd been expecting, and frankly dreading, but rather a charming tale. The main evil character is a bit of a cardboard mock-up, but doesn't spoil the story by being so. Touches on some pretty powerful topics with an evenhandedness that assures one of the fundamental rightness of things.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Bryce rated it:

An excellent, well-crafted story.

Picking up the book as an adult reader, I found it an enjoyable and quick story. Maud, the 11-year old protagonist, had a realistically childish perspective, but wasn't so precious or precocious that it grated on me. I believed her choices, her decisions and her moral dilemmas. I also found the grown-up women surrounding Maud to be interesting characters, fully realized and three-dimensional. Even the "villain" of the piece could arouse a b More...

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Apr 14, 2009

Amy rated it:

Thanks, MJ, for your recommendation! This is a fantastic story, a real twist on the historical orphan adoption story. Maud is swept away from a dreadful life at an orphanage by a pair of sisters who seem on the surface to be excited to have a little girl of their own. Immediately, Maud becomes confused because she is supposed to be the "secret child," for reasons that we discover soon enough. I was most interested in the world that surrounds Maud and her guardians, the historical t More...

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Feb 22, 2012

Diane rated it:

This is billed as a melodrama and it doesn't fail to live up to that title. This is a great rainy day book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is one of those books I wish I would have read back when I was 9-12 or so, because I bet I would have loved it so much (as I felt about The Velvet Room, Mandy, etc.). The only thing keeping me from "loving it so much" at this point is that it read a bit younger/more simple than my preferred writing style. Otherwise, though, it is a great melodra More...

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Jan 15, 2012

Maeve rated it:

I loved this book!!! I've never read a book like this before. It has such an original story line and its not predicable at all. It a story about an orphan, Maud who is adopted by three sisters who use Maud to scam people. They pretend to be mediums which means that they tell people they can communicate with the dead to get money from people. They use Maud to play a womens dead daughter. During one of the seances, the house went on fire and they left Maud trapped in the house. Maud managed to e More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Laura rated it:

All I knew about this book when I bought it was that it was the Kindle Deal of the Day, and whatever tidy summary Amazon saw fit to provide. What a delightful surprise! This book, frankly, is fantastic. The characters are so well-drawn, and while the ending is somewhat predictable, what gets you to that point most definitely is not. But what impressed me the most was how tightly the story was woven ... There was not one word that seemed superfluous. The last book I read was the very opposite of More...

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Feb 15, 2012

Ann rated it:

I read somewhere that one of the most disconcerting thing for children is an adult who acts sweet one moment and vicious the next. I think Hyacinth epitomizes this concept wonderfully. You have Maud, the poor orphan who is/wants to be wholly devoted to Hyacinth, and yet, she cannot ascertain where she stands in the woman's favor until it becomes crystal clear in the end. Contrast that with Muffet, who gets angry with Maud and yet even her anger is a display of love because she has Maud's best i More...

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Jan 26, 2009

Amy rated it:

I was interested in this book because it is by the same author that wrote "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies" (Newberry winner for 2008) which I loved. She has a talent for bringing characters and settings to life. There are so many orphan stories out there though, so at first I was a little hesitant. I loved the main character "Maud", she was so tough and spunky, but at the same time had vulnerabilites. Maud is the name of my great grandmother who was about the same age as the More...

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Jun 09, 2009

Inge rated it:

I wasn't entirely excited to read this book. I know many librarians loved "Good Masters, Sweet Ladies," but it left me underwhelmed.
I hope the number of pages in this book doesn't deter children from reading it. As I noticed that I only had 100 pages left in the novel, I felt the kind of panic I usually reserve for Harry Potter books. I did not want it to end.
A Drowned Maiden's Hair features an orphan, a trio of spinsters with questionable motives, pseudo-spiritualists, se More...

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Jul 20, 2010

Katie rated it:

A worthy read! Story is well-balanced and satisfying. The characters have that heightened Dickensian feel (and I don't think I'm writing this just because there's an orphan in the mix) that verges on the cartoonish, but still somehow manages to feel believable. Also, hooray for the main character, Maud, who is just bad enough to be good to read about!

The Story: Maud, the worst-behaved girl at her orphanage, is adopted by a trio of elderly sisters and manipulated into helping them w More...

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Feb 05, 2012

Alexa rated it:

This is one of the best children's lit books I've ever read. I put it on a par with "The Secret Garden" and "A Little Princess." Also the "shoe books." It's genuinely sophisticated, without sliding into overly-mature subject matter in the slightest. I've seen it criticized as "dark," but it is no darker than any orphan story. In fact, it is neither dark nor light--it is, simply, real. It breathes.

Don't be put off by the fact that the protagonis More...

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Dec 30, 2010

Lauren rated it:

This children’s book about eleven-year-old Maud’s adoption by three spinsters in 1909 is everything I remember liking about books as a girl. And as an adult, the plot, combined with the book’s tension between Maud’s need to be loved, her desire to be a normal child, and her responsibilities with her new family, makes it one of the more endearing children’s books I’ve read this year. Recommended (with the suggestion that knowing as little about the book as possible creates a wonderful tension the More...

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Sep 08, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

This is my first review. Wow do they really asked you what you learned from every book? Kinda sucks the fun right out of it...

I've always had a soft spot for orphans in books, which explains my Jane Eyre obsession, and this book is no exception. Laura Schulitz created one of my new favorite orphans in Maud. I'm not sure how much I can say without ruining it but it's a deftly done job of asking some tough questions about the difference between love/approval. You can tell this More...

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