A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama

Laura Amy Schlitz's 'A Drowned Maiden's Hair' introduces Maud Flynn, an eleven-year-old orphan with a feisty spirit, adopted by three eccentric sisters. Maud soon discovers her new home is a front for a spiritualist scam, where she is expected to play a crucial role in staging fake seances for grieving patrons. The novel delves into Maud's internal struggle as she grapples with the deception, her need for belonging, and her burgeoning sense of right and wrong. It's a suspenseful historical fiction that explores themes of honesty, integrity, and finding one's moral compass amidst challenging circumstances, culminating in a shocking betrayal that forces Maud to act.

Maud Flynn is known at the orphanage for her impertinence. So when the charming Miss Hyacinth chooses her to take home, the girl is pleased but baffled, until she learns of her new role: helping to stage elaborate seances for bereaved patrons. As Maud is drawn deeper into the deception, playing the "secret child," she is torn between her need to please and her growing conscience. It takes a shocking betrayal to make clear just how heartless her so-called guardians are. Filled with fascinating details of turn-of-the-century spiritualism and page-turning suspense, this novel from Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz features a feisty heroine whom readers will not soon forget.