Displaying in this short novella (51 pages) the powerful sense of place that made The Green Knowe Chronicles| such classics, L.M. Boston tells the story of Tom Morgan, a young Welsh boy transplanted from his rural home to a factory town. It is the Park, an undeveloped field in the center of town, and the ancient house attached to it, that present Tom with the one bright spot in this desolation of planned uniformity. It is here that Tom likes to fish, and it is here that he one day witnesses the owner - an eccentric old lady believed by the local children to be a witch - and her gardener depart. Seizing the opportunity, Tom lets himself into the unlocked house, where he has a series of amazing encounters with the masks and artifacts that act as "guardians." A Malayan goddess, a Roman triton-head, a worn Indian figure, all take Tom to another time and place, each teaches him a "lesson" of sorts...

It is difficult to know how to read this odd but enchanting book. As one reviewer has noted, it lacks a coherent and linear plot-line, seeming instead to be a series of linked vignettes. The structure of the story, with Tom's various "lessons," seems to hint that Boston had some end-goal in sight, but what was it? It is tempting to think that the ethical message of the story is that art will yield its full enchantment only to those who respect its power and appreciate it beauty, rather than those who attempt to conquer, master, or steal it. This seems born out by the fact that the first two "lessons" show the destructive nature of looters, and that Tom is twice prevented from stealing one of the house's treasures. But this argument in turn is undermined by the fact that these artifacts must necessarily have been severed most brutally from their natural homes, or they would not be present in the house, or in Britain for that matter, at all. Unlike some reviewers elsewhere, I do believe that this book represents more than Boston's surreal daydreams about the faces to be found in her own home (the inspiration for so many of her works), but like Tom, "the Secret is too hard" for me. Perhaps that is the point...

Illustrated by Peter Boston, the author's son. ( )