Hildegarde's Home

A country house with a wide verandah, old needlework and scented china jars gives Hildegarde Grahame plenty to investigate on the day she arrives. After her father's death and serious financial losses, she and her mother exchange their expensive New York household for a house left to Mrs. Grahame by a relative. Hildegarde approaches its faded furnishings with curiosity, finding traces of earlier inhabitants in the objects they have left behind.

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards's novel for young readers places family life and questions of conduct among these domestic details. A luncheon with the Loftus family turns conversation about food, fashionable gowns and schooling into a revealing study of manners. Hildegarde's discomfort at her host's boasting brings courtesy and consideration into focus. Readers interested in country households and the social expectations placed on young women will find a story built around conversation, observation and everyday choices.