What an inane book. 314 pages of nothing. The biggest crisis in the book is when the plantation owner's daughter, Elsie Dinsmore, accidentally noticed a copy of Oliver Twist on her father's desk and started to read it. Apparently she wasn't to read any books, especially novels, without passing them before her father ahead of time. Her punishment? She could not go into his office for a month unless he was there. This was a MAJOR punishment and caused great angst for the girl and her father. Many hugs and kisses later the punishment stuck. There were many prayers to God by Elsie begging forgiveness for such a grievous transgression. To understand this crisis, read the article in Wikipedia about the Elsie Dinsmore series of books by Finley.

For more information on the author and this series of books on Mildred Keith, check out Martha Finley on Wikipedia. In some of the other titles in this series, the issue of slavery is faced because members of the family own slaves and planations in Virginia.. However, not in this book. We meet two slaves and neither is called that but rather they are servants and are happy "employees" who are almost part of the family. ( )