The Girl Next Door

by Augusta Huiell Seaman, Jennifer Dallman (Narrator)

Marcia Brett has noticed unusual activity at the ramshackle and seemingly abandoned mansion next door: a mysterious, veiled lady is seen coming and going out the front door, a different woman is glimpsed through a shuttered window, and most mysterious of all, a pretty, blond girl is seen briefly looking forlornly out an upper window! Along with her best friend, Janet McNeil, the two girls are determined to learn the secrets of the old house and befriend the young girl, but once they do, the secrets only increase. The girl has no idea why she is at this house or even who the women she is living with are! Has she been kidnapped? Are they relatives? No one seems to know. - Summary by Jennifer Dallman

Genres: Mystery, Novels, Audiobook, Classics, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Ebooks

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Augusta Huiell Seaman (1879-1950) was an American author of children's literature. She graduated from Normal College in New York City in 1900 and went on to teach elementary school. Following her marriage in 1906, she devoted her time to writing children's books. While living in Island Beach, Augusta held various offices in the local government, including Borough clerk, Tax Collector, and Borough Registrar. Her works include: Jacqueline of the Carrier Pigeons (1910), The Boarded up House (1915), The Slipper Point Mystery (1919), The Dragon's Secret (1921), The Mystery at Number Six (1922), The Edge of Raven Pool (1924), The Charlemonte Crest (1930) and The Vanishing Octant Mystery (1949).

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gentle girls' mystery a la Nancy Drew. Not my favorite of hers, but still a cute little story and no murder in the mystery.

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another kind of mystery that excites me. I favour anything more creative than crimes. Augusta Huiell Seaman's teenagers wonder why a large house is secretive. There are special details: Marcia, her Aunt Minerva, and sea captain Father recently moved from country life. With school out, her best friend, Janet is visiting her new city apartment home. They monitor the obscure building and pursue a girl their age, who scuttles outside seldom and nervously. All they know is the wealthy Benedict family owns this manor, using money with the same scarcity with which they now publicly appear.

Cecily’s hesitancy to acquaint them and confusion about herself spurs the girls to obtain the answers. Cecily’s Mother died in England and her skittish hostess doesn’t know why Cecily was sent to her, any more than she. Miss Benedict is kind but adamant that Cecily keep them away from scrutiny. This very unique puzzle swept me along as well as “The Boarded-Up House”. Best friends is a strong theme. Here, the heroines’ age doesn’t matter because they are mature, thinking girls; never shrieking, nor shying from what needs to be done. No trivial adventure hinging on one straightforward plot: this story will take you years into the past and around the world.

Unravelling who Cecily is and why she’s in the care of this baffled, lonely recluse will warm hearts, as we marvel at Augusta’s complex ingenuity. A great deal of history and cultural knowledge is evident, which was no easy thing in 1917. One distasteful aspect was concern that Cecily might be related to a “Mandarin”. Further to a language, this is apparently also a people in Fukin province, who evicted family members for bearing daughters. With justifiable allowance for the passage of ninety-eight years, “The Girl Next Door” is fantastic!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to give this one a shot, having never heard of it before, because I found it on Project Gutenberg's top 100 list at #7 (popularity-wise). It started out with a sort of Gothic Horror vibe, which was great, but that dissipated not even halfway through. The story turned into something else that was not quite as enjoyable to take in, perhaps because of the unfortunate casual racism that was more a product of the time this novel was written. I thought the ending was okay in the big reveal, not terribly shocking though. I figured as much how Cecilia was related to the Benedicts, but I was still confused until the explanation as to the specifics, so there's something to be said for a story that keeps you guessing. After the reveal though, the ending fell into being a tad too silly - with overnight medical miracles and everything wrapped up in a nice big bow! Of course, the book was aimed at a younger set, so what else can you expect? It would likely have appealed to children and teenagers in 1917. As for me, it had me interested for the first half anyway, maybe a little disappointed by the end, but it's always interesting to read something from different time periods, so I would still say it was worth the while.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars & 4/10 hearts. Well, this was a nice surprise. I went into this expecting an Anna Katharine Green type of mystery, and instead found a sweet little story about friendship with a thread of mystery.

Set in New York City in the early 1900s, this story follows the adventures of best friends Marcia & Jessie. Marcia, whose father is an ocean steamer captain, has just moved to NYC to live with her Aunt Minerva in an apartment. Jessie is on a summer visit from Marcia’s old country village. Marcia regales Jessie with tales of the mystery that surrounds the house next door. What happens next surprises them all…

The plot was very interesting—two girls trying to unravel the mystery of a third girl, helped by an aunt, father, and friends of the father. The absence of disobedience and spying, etc, really was very appreciated. The writing style was simple and old-fashioned, very enjoyable. The only thing that kept this from having a full 4 stars was the perplexing and annoying attitude of the people towards the idea that their friend may be part Chinese. Racism didn’t seem involved, since the Chinese boatswain was much liked and highly spoken of. The Chinese sailors were the reverse, but since they weren’t very nice people, it made sense. As for the humorous complaints about Chinese and how confusing it was, that is a common thing for anyone to say about other people’s languages—as a bilingual, I say the same of all languages I speak! However, I finally decided that since this was set after the Boxer Rebellion, the objections to a half-British, half-Chinese ethnicity stemmed from the unpopularity of the Chinese at the era—or perhaps because the supposed grandfather, a Chinese mandarin, was an unkind man! All the same, this didn’t explain the tears, the mentions of “a horrible information,” et cetera.

I really liked Marcia & Jessie. They were both very sweet, kind girls. I related to Marcia’s tendency to anxiety and appreciated Jessie’s philosophy. Their conversations were funny and very realistic. Aunt Minerva was nothing like I expected and ended up very funny and sweet. The captain, too, was not the brusque, noisy man I pictured, but a fatherly gentlemen. Miss Benedict was surprising and very pathetic, and Cecily was so appealing and inspiring! I enjoyed seeing Lee Ching, an unusual addition! He was a great character and I would have liked to know more about him.

Overall, this was a sweet little mystery with a happy ending and lovely characters.

A Favourite Quote: “But isn't that the saddest story? It just goes to show how unhappy we can make people by talking about them and their affairs."
A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Well, of all the dances I've ever been led, this is the worst and most foolish! But it's just like the major. He always was the most impulsive chap. You'll be delighted to know that he's made one more discovery—and that is that he has been 'barking up the wrong tree,' as they say.” 

[Nicole Sampson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a little boring because the exciting parts were few and far between, but it was enjoyable enough for me to finish it.

[Kristen Yoder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny, fairly interesting mystery plot, mildly racist comments matching the language of the day, plausible explanations, somewhat heartwarming.

[Zeinab Tajouri · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was an easy breazy reading, very lightly written, i didn't feel like there was much of a mystery that everything was predictable by the middle of the book, the characters weren't deep, there were no plost in the story it was too simple, it felt more of a children book.. i like the century it's written in though. Well it didn't take much of my time to regret reading it.

[Farheen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This kept me thinking really till the end...

[Noha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Silly, racist, unnecessarily long.

[Harshit Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting mystery. Despite knowing that all of this can't happen and isn't real, I wasn't able to leave the book until the end. Quick read of course.

[Library Queen · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has been forgotten and for good reason. If you're not a kid you know the twist way ahead of time, plus the blatant racism. and I don't mean the kind in some of the older books, where you can say that's the way they talked, which is not good, but understandable for that time period (which I'm not saying it's ok they talked that way. I'm just saying you have to acknowledge it was common) and if you read older books you have to decide if you're bothered by it enough to continue reading.

I mean part of the mystery is they're trying to find out about their friend's father and who he is, and at one point they think he may be Chinese and are DEVASTATED. Like, throwing themselves on the couch in tears and saying they can't tell their friend unless they know for sure because they just can't imagine anything worse!

Other better childrens' classics exist. Read one of those.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was brilliant book! Full of mystery from the beginning for two friends who hope to discover just what is going on next door. Little glimpses of a strange lady. Then a tantalising view of another lady, one time when the shutters blew back. And finally an encounter with a very confused young lady near their own age.
But the shutters are always shut. The young lady seems to only get any air or exercise in her back garden after dark.
Eventually everyone in both houses are involved one way or the other in trying to solve the mysteries surrounding the people next door. Especially the mystery of the girl living there.

The reader was very good. Able to bring each character to life.

[Catherine Hawthorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mystery was so engaging and innocent. Very entertaining to read, and would heartily recommend!

RW Ratings:

Language, Abuse, Lust: 5 stars for all! There is some rumors that Cecily was poorly treated, but they are untrue and can be excused by several circumstances surrounding Miss Benedict.

[Alyssa Bohon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A genuine girl's story with friendship, curiosity, and a (non-crime) mystery. There's nothing grand about it, but the girls are kind and lovable and delightfully old-fashioned - set in the year my great grandmother was born - 1912. I wish hanging out over embroidery and library books was still a norm...

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mystery but you have to go beyond the period systemic sexism, systematic racism, and systematic classism. If you can grasp that the isms represent 100+ years ago and don’t have to be part of today it’s a good story.

[William Orellana santamaria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not exactly my type of mystery book. I guess it was meant for teens and children in the 19th century.

[Ida Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a good one.

IT showed what noseiness can get you.

Some times a good out come and some times bad.

[Amber Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't begin to tell u about this book.. it's so boring and they reader as it is audo book is the worst.. sounds like she reading to kindergarten.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQgjs...

[Shwar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was supposed to be a good quick read but a lot was going on so it took me a while to get time to finish it.
It was nice to have a quick read. The characters were very interesting. I think it was interesting how the two best friends Marcia and Janet were basically drooling over the girl next door Cecily. I liked how persistent they were off trying to get to know her. Cecily had a pretty dark life as she was trapped in a house with a mysterious woman named Miss Benedict. It was nice of them to be friends with her and stay by her side. Especially even trying to figure out her Chinese bracelet that can lead them to find out her past. The captain and Aunt Minevora were very nice characters who eventually helped them figure out the pieces. I always found Miss Benedict interesting as she had a veil on and did mysterious things but slowly everything would fall in place. I am glad in the end everybody was happy and everything was resolved. It was also nice that Cecily got to go to high school with Marcia.
Cute read.

[Hunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

its a mysterious coincidence story happened to a girl, Cecily Marlowe who lives next door to a house named by these girls, Janet and Marcia as Benedict's Folly. Its on their curiousity why Ms Benedict living mysteriously on ner owned without any socializing with anyone. Until they found out there was another person living with them, a girl they know so sweet and nice.

As they are always wished to make a friends with the girl, they have secretly make contact by attaching things and stuffs to a string and deliver it through their bedroom window directly to Cecily's lawn. This make her happy and less lonely, as a token of appreciation, Cecily has given them a bracelet which then they shown it they aunt and happened it was have its her own bracelets as identical as Cecily's.

This sort of coincidence has encouraged their conjectures and with the helped after their family and friends, they able to solve the issue of who is Cecily with Ms Benedict. The background and roots of them.

[Annick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love these old innocent children's mysteries but this old book like so many of its time has a darker side. It's peppered with racist ideology and fascist tendencies.
I often wonder how these books are allowed to circulate without a note of warning or guidance explaining the passive ignorance of even the most highly educated British or colonial person.
In this little tale the sheer dread that the two young white girls have of their new friend possibly being related in any way to a mandarin Chinese person, is to me, disgusting and creepy.
I had to stop reading due to nausea when the two sweet lovely white skinned wasps became elated and over joyed just for the relief of learning their new little friend wasn't of Chinese decent.
The tone of this book seems so innocent but goodness what horrific colonial androids they were!

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and just interesting enough to keep me reading.

This has some slow moments and some of it was dragged out a bit more than necessary but I still liked it overall. There actually were some twists I wasnt completely expecting. The appeal to me, as usual, was mainly that it was written in the early 1900's. I like simple stories with some interest (a mystery but no extreme bad guy, for example), especially since I do most of my reading before falling asleep. This one kept me up a little longer than usual toward the end because I wanted to know if I was right in guessing the mystery (I was mostly right).

[Hilde · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it because it was on the first page of the most downloaded books on Gutenberg, so I figured it had to be good.
Now that I read it I suspect it is only ranked that high because people confuse it for one of the many other "The Girl Next Door" books.

Very slow story, but entertaining enough to make it to the end.
Some racist remarks, but not to the extent that it ruins the book completely.


Only read if you can get past the characters going "OMG, our friend might be half chinese, how horrible!"

[Katharine Holden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable 19th-century novella of the "incredible coincidences" type of mystery. I liked it. The various red herrings and ridiculous coincidences were fun light reading. I will look for more of Augusta Seaman's books.

[Ananya · Rating 3 out of 5]

A.H Seaman seems to be the American Enid Blyton. The plot involves nosy teenagers poking into the 'mysterious' neighbours' business. A short, enjoyable read, although the blatant racism was a bit much,but I guess that's how rolled in that century.

[Ankita Gour · Rating 3 out of 5]

short novel. good timepass.

[Lavonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice light read for a lazy afternoon. A story of two young women at the end of the 19th century that are curious about the mysterious house and its occupants next door.

[Manik Kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Juvenile literature, therefore I refrain from reviewing the book. Thought couldn't say it is boring one!

[Mandip Nathji · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. The story is strong enough keep holding you.

A story of two girls, started with curiosity turns into a mystery and through twists and turns ends well.