Review Detail

Maisie and Felix Robbins' lives are upturned in an instant when their parents announce they are divorcing. Before they know it, they are whisked from New York City to Newport, Rhode Island while their father packs himself off to work at a museum in Qatar! Because an ancestor built Elm Medona, one of the Gilded Age "cottages", and the children's great aunt Maisie can no longer stay in the apartment she is renting for $1 a year from the historical society, the children move in with their mother. They joke that they are being held captive in the attic, but it's quite a nice place to live, and they do get taken on a tour of their opulent new surroundings. While Maisie is not particularly happy about the move, she is intrigued, and when a pricelss Ming vase shatters, she surreptitiously picks up a shard. Things get strange when the vase appears later, fully mended! Felix doesn't think much of it until the two get a chance to see the Treasure Chest, a room full of all sorts of wonderful gifts that had been given to the owners of the home. When the two pick up a piece of paper, reality flickers, and they wonder what secrets the room might hold. Of course, their mother takes the day off, and wants them to visit their great aunt, but they are impatient to get back. When they sneak into the room at night, they manage to time travel! They end up in the country, and assume that the girl they meet in her family's barn, Clara Barton, must be Amish, and think they have traveled to Pennsylvania. When Clara tells them that they are in Massachusetts, and that it's 1836, they are amazed. They spend an interesting day hearing about Clara's brother David, who was sick and had to be nursed for three years, overhear stories that Clara's father tells, and have a hearty country breakfast. It's tricky to get back, and they realize that they have a letter that needs to be delivered to Clara. Once that is done, they head back to modern day Newport to start their new school, and to spend more time listening to their great aunt!