The Rushton Inheritance

by Elisabeth Mace

Rushton Inheritance [hardcover] Mace, Elisabeth [Jul 06, 1978]

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

Reviews

[Barbara Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age story set in 1887, this book tells the story of Thomson Rushton, a boy on the verge of adulthood. Tasked with copying his grandmother's notes and words of wisdom into a one book volume, Tom rails against being controlled by the women in his life. On the one hand angry at having to do feminine chores like looking after his baby brother Osborne and on the other loathe to leave school and take on a man's responsibilities at their home based inn, Tom meets a boy about his age, like him yet very unlike him, who is searching for a "treasure".


The boy, Steve, turns out to be a descendant of Osborne's, traveling through time through some unknown means. His presence spurs Tom, his cousin Alfred and his sister Tilda to search the inn for the purported treasure. They are thwarted by chores, school, an all powerful Gran, and the ne'er do well Blakeys who want the "treasure" for themselves. In the end the children learn the true value of a cohesive family and what treasure really is.


Published in 1978, this book holds up well to modern times, perhaps because the action all takes place in the past, and no disturbingly old "modern" technology is mentioned. The book is written well, the protagonists are sympathetic, and the plot is enjoyable.



Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Mace, Elisabeth.
The Rushton Inheritance.
(c) 1978

SUMMARY: The young Rushtons find their daily life disrupted by a boy ghost who appears from another time in search of a family secret.

1. Space and time - Fiction 2. England - Fiction

ISBN 0-8407-6611-4

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting time travel story, in which a boy in the 19th century is visited by another boy who's his 20th century relative, who brings word of a lost family treasure....a hunt for the treasure ensues, and it's interesting, but the ending was a bit of a let down. A fine read, but not one I loved.

[Farah Mendlesohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My copy is called The Rushton Treasurer. The Rushton Inheritance is better.

I am startled to find myself using the word "unique": I can't think of a single other book where the ghost comes from the future into the historical novel

A very nicely told book, very much of its era with not a lot happening but the historical world of the late 1880s, rural England, depicted very convincingly.