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The Cuckoo Clock and the Tapestry Room
The cuckoo in the clock leads a lonely little girl into fantastic adventures and two cousins go to magical places by way of the tapestry room.
502 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1976
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About the author
Mrs. Molesworth
454 books22 followersMary Louisa Molesworth, née Stewart was an English writer of children's stories who wrote for children under the name of Mrs. Molesworth. Her first novels, for adult readers, Lover and Husband (1869) to Cicely (1874), appeared under the pseudonym of Ennis Graham. Her name occasionally appears in print as M.L.S. Molesworth.
She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart (1809–1873) who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson (1810–1883). Mary had three brothers and two sisters. She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland: much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, nephew of Viscount Molesworth; they legally separated in 1879.
Mrs. Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879), and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery," while The Carved Lions (1895) "is probably her masterpiece."
Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice.
Typical of the time, her young child characters often use a lisping style, and words may be misspelt to represent children's speech—"jography" for geography, for instance.
She took an interest in supernatural fiction. In 1888, she published a collection of supernatural tales under the title Four Ghost Stories, and in 1896 a similar collection of six tales under the title Uncanny Stories. In addition to those, her volume Studies and Stories includes a ghost story entitled "Old Gervais" and her Summer Stories for Boys and Girls includes "Not Exactly a Ghost Story."
A new edition of The Cuckoo Clock was published in 1914.
She died in 1921 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[Wikipedia]
She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart (1809–1873) who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson (1810–1883). Mary had three brothers and two sisters. She was educated in Great Britain and Switzerland: much of her girlhood was spent in Manchester. In 1861 she married Major R. Molesworth, nephew of Viscount Molesworth; they legally separated in 1879.
Mrs. Molesworth is best known as a writer of books for the young, such as Tell Me a Story (1875), Carrots (1876), The Cuckoo Clock (1877), The Tapestry Room (1879), and A Christmas Child (1880). She has been called "the Jane Austen of the nursery," while The Carved Lions (1895) "is probably her masterpiece."
Mary Louisa Molesworth typified late Victorian writing for girls. Aimed at girls too old for fairies and princesses but too young for Austen and the Brontës, books by Molesworth had their share of amusement, but they also had a good deal of moral instruction. The girls reading Molesworth would grow up to be mothers; thus, the books emphasized Victorian notions of duty and self-sacrifice.
Typical of the time, her young child characters often use a lisping style, and words may be misspelt to represent children's speech—"jography" for geography, for instance.
She took an interest in supernatural fiction. In 1888, she published a collection of supernatural tales under the title Four Ghost Stories, and in 1896 a similar collection of six tales under the title Uncanny Stories. In addition to those, her volume Studies and Stories includes a ghost story entitled "Old Gervais" and her Summer Stories for Boys and Girls includes "Not Exactly a Ghost Story."
A new edition of The Cuckoo Clock was published in 1914.
She died in 1921 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[Wikipedia]
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 25, 2020
If I had a dollar for every time that I read this book when I was still reading books from the children's department on the top floor of our library, I'd be able to buy a new copy of my own, new.
The magical voyages of the cukoo, leading the child to marvelous new places was Mrs. Molesworth's version of Through the Looking Glass, and the tapestry room led to new worlds. A magic carpet kind of adventure.
I've been looking for an old copy of theat favorite book from my youth. I cannot imagine why they list a man who I've never heard of as the author. I object.
The magical voyages of the cukoo, leading the child to marvelous new places was Mrs. Molesworth's version of Through the Looking Glass, and the tapestry room led to new worlds. A magic carpet kind of adventure.
I've been looking for an old copy of theat favorite book from my youth. I cannot imagine why they list a man who I've never heard of as the author. I object.
April 25, 2017
I vividly remember this being my first "big" book (actually, it's two books bound in one cover). As well as I can remember, I was about ten years old the first time I read it, and re-visited it at least once a year up into my early twenties.
Mrs. Molesworth struck close to my young heart, speaking to its loneliness.
Mrs. Molesworth struck close to my young heart, speaking to its loneliness.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews