The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Unseen Guest

As you know, I am a sucker for the boarding school book.  And although these books do not take place at the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, I can't help but think on such a place as it has clearly coloured our young heroine Penelope Lumley.

In the latest installment, the Widow Ashton and her companion Admiral Faucet (pronounces Fah-say, if you please) have returned to the homestead.  The Widow to see her son Frederick, and the Admiral to woo the Widow and to launch his money making scheme of ostrich racing.  But when the pair arrive, Faucet's ostrich Bertha has escaped into the woods around the estate.  In fact, Penelope and the children come across the ostrich while on a nature hike in the woods, but no sooner do they see her than Bertha is off and running again.

Upon meeting the children, the Widow Ashton is quite taken with them, and Lady Constance who has never shown the children any affection to speak of, starts to fuss over them.  In fact, the first night of the visit, Penelope and the children are invited to dine with the family and they are regailed with the tale of Master Ashton's untimely death in a medicinal tar pit.  After dinner Frederick and the Admiral take the boys back to the study and hatch a plan to get Bertha back.  Faucet wants to catch her and Frederick wants to hunt her.  And they want to take the children due to their unique tracking abilities.

Penelope won't let the go without her and Cassiopeia, and since she is worried about Frederick's abissmal eyesight, she conspires with Faucet to have the expedition take place on the full moon when she knows full well that Frederick will be suffering from his "moon sickness".

What follows is an adventure that only Penelope could get into with the Incorrigibles.  Honestly, not as much happens in this installment as I was expecting.  There are of course the elements of the Swanburne education with the exploration of philosophers like Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, synonyms, and prognostics.  There are also dappled mysteries like the sandwiches in the cave, and the identity of "Judge Quinzy".  But it seems that the biggest thing that is happening in The Unseen Guest is Penelope's own growth.  Why, for example, is she not finding the comfort she used to in the pony books of her childhood, and why does she yearn for adventure instead of comfort?

Overall, fans of the series will eat this one up.  I do hope, however, that the next adventure brings us closer to the reveal of not only the moon sickness, but of the identity of Quinzy as well!

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Penelope Lumley has just graduated from Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, where she was dropped off when she was four years old. At the Academy she was a bright student, fond of quoting the sayings of Miss Agatha Swanburne, and is now en route to interview for a job as a governess at Ashton Place. Her head mistress Miss Charlotte Mortimer penned Penny a glowing recommendation, and Penny is hoping for the best.

When she meets Lady Constance, Penny is a bit surprised when she ends up asking the lady of the house questions rather than the other way around. And for some reason Lady Constance really doesn’t want to talk about the children. In fact, she states that children are not very “interesting” to discuss.

But the real surprise comes when Penny does meet the children. Raggedy and kept wrapped in blankets in the barn, the three children howl away and act like animals. Penny soon learns that Lord Ashton found the children in his woods while out hunting, and instead of sending the children to a work house or an orphanage, he applied his “finders keepers” philosophy and decided to advertise for a governess instead.

Penny is soon knee deep in the task of re-education Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia (names chosen by the master of the house). She is sure that poetry, Latin and some etiquette will change their lives. The children and their governess are mostly left to themselves, until Lady Constance lets them know that she is planning her first Christmas fete as the lady of the house and that the children must be presentable by that time.

Penny is sure that she can have the children ready, but it seems that someone doesn’t want her to succeed. Who could it be?

Maryrose Wood has written an incredibly smart and engaging start to a series that has left me wanting more. The pacing is perfect, the voice of the narrator is polished and so much fun! All of the pearls of wisdom from Agatha Swanburne will have readers thinking, and no doubt quoting as well. My friends know that I usually bemoan the fact that so many titles develop into series…I hanker for the stand alone. The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, however, does it right. The characters are interesting, the setting is clear and the writing is strong. Simply put, I cannot wait for the next installment!