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The Tightrope Walker
“They’re going to kill me soon…”
When the quiet and shy Amelia Jones reads these words, her life changes irrevocably. She’s just become the new owner of the Ebbtide Shop, a musty antique store filled with merry-go-round horses and hurdy-gurdies, and it is while fixing one of these barrel organs that the scrawled and threatening note falls out. Armed only with the strange woman’s first name and the note written years before, Amelia begins a journey into the past, a search that takes her from the protective cocoon she’s wrapped herself in to a precarious world where passions boil underneath the surface, where nothing is the way it seems, where fear is second nature, and dark secrets just might uncover murder—her own…
When the quiet and shy Amelia Jones reads these words, her life changes irrevocably. She’s just become the new owner of the Ebbtide Shop, a musty antique store filled with merry-go-round horses and hurdy-gurdies, and it is while fixing one of these barrel organs that the scrawled and threatening note falls out. Armed only with the strange woman’s first name and the note written years before, Amelia begins a journey into the past, a search that takes her from the protective cocoon she’s wrapped herself in to a precarious world where passions boil underneath the surface, where nothing is the way it seems, where fear is second nature, and dark secrets just might uncover murder—her own…
223 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
262 people are currently reading
826 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Gilman
120 books758 followersDorothy Edith Gilman started writing when she was 9 and knew early on she was to be a writer. At 11, she competed against 10 to 16-year-olds in a story contest and won first place. She attended Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and briefly the University of Pennsylvania. She planned to write and illustrate children's books. She married Edgar A. Butters Jr, in 1945, this ended in divorce in 1965. Dorothy worked as an art teacher & telephone operator before becoming an author. She wrote children’s stories for more than ten years under the name
Dorothy Gilman Butters
and then began writing adult novels about Mrs. Pollifax–a retired grandmother who becomes a CIA agent. The Mrs. Pollifax series made Dorothy famous. While her stories nourish people’s thirst for adventure and mystery, Dorothy knew about nourishing the body as well. On her farm in Nova Scotia, she grew medicinal herbs and used this knowledge of herbs in many of her stories, including A Nun in the Closet. She travelled extensively, and used these experiences in her novels as well. Many of Dorothy’s books, feature strong women having adventures around the world. In 2010 Gilman was awarded the annual Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Dorothy spent much of her life in Connecticut, New Mexico, and Maine. She died at age 88 of complications of Alzheimer's disease. She is survived by two sons, Christopher Butters and Jonathan Butters; and two grandchildren.
Series:
* Mrs. Pollifax
Series:
* Mrs. Pollifax
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 240 reviews
April 22, 2021
This is the most original plot in all my years reading. It sparks a chase for a related novel; hard to come by and worth the hunt! Amelia bought an antique store and found a note inside an instrument. Someone expected to be killed in a cover-up! If the note were real, it bore no date and only a first name. What would you do?
It took time to synch with this protagonist but the tremendously unique adventure is memorable. It picks up pace. An unusual scenario carrying into real life is Amelia's favourite book 'within the book', frequently quoted. "The Maze In The Heart Of The Castle" appears to have been a fabricated title. However Dorothy Gilman did compose the young adult fantasy in 1983! It is as if it created a following before it existed! Also a parallel, it has become a rare collectible like in the story.
"The Tightrope Walker" is unrelated to the author's famous, very long "Mrs. Pollifax" series beginning in 1966. Odd I haven't read those but am a fan of her deviations. I'm sorry Ms. Gilman died in February this year. I'm grateful her imaginative legacy is immune to shelf life.
It took time to synch with this protagonist but the tremendously unique adventure is memorable. It picks up pace. An unusual scenario carrying into real life is Amelia's favourite book 'within the book', frequently quoted. "The Maze In The Heart Of The Castle" appears to have been a fabricated title. However Dorothy Gilman did compose the young adult fantasy in 1983! It is as if it created a following before it existed! Also a parallel, it has become a rare collectible like in the story.
"The Tightrope Walker" is unrelated to the author's famous, very long "Mrs. Pollifax" series beginning in 1966. Odd I haven't read those but am a fan of her deviations. I'm sorry Ms. Gilman died in February this year. I'm grateful her imaginative legacy is immune to shelf life.
October 31, 2025
The story revolves around Amelia Jones, a woman in her early 20’s just trying to launch herself into adulthood after a difficult childhood. When she buys an antique shop, she is finding joy in all the things she finds there including an old instrument. But when the instrument stops playing one day, Amelia investigates to find a note inside. The letter was written by someone named Hannah who says someone is about to kill her. Amelia begins her quest to follow the trail of the instrument’s owners to see if she can figure out what happened to Hannah. What will she find?
The title comes from a metaphor the book tries to make, and it feels a bit of a stretch. But that’s a minor issue. The story is part murder mystery and part coming of age story. I might have found the beginning slow in other books, but that duality kept me engaged. The second half fixes any potential pacing issues from the first half, and I was caught up in the story. I was satisfied with the climax and loved seeing how Amelia grew of the course of the book. If you’ve missed this stand alone, I recommend you fix that today.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
The title comes from a metaphor the book tries to make, and it feels a bit of a stretch. But that’s a minor issue. The story is part murder mystery and part coming of age story. I might have found the beginning slow in other books, but that duality kept me engaged. The second half fixes any potential pacing issues from the first half, and I was caught up in the story. I was satisfied with the climax and loved seeing how Amelia grew of the course of the book. If you’ve missed this stand alone, I recommend you fix that today.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
December 23, 2018
I have spent the last week sorting through all the books in my Arizona bookcases. I haven't even seen most of them for eight years, so this has been a fun journey through my reading history. But I am also culling the herd: dividing everything into Keep, Give Away, or Read ASAP And Then Decide piles. This book was one that I could remember nothing about and I decided to start my re-read list with it.
Dorothy Gilman is best known for her Mrs. Pollifax novels. I've read one or two of those, and I suppose that is what originally led to my buying this one at a book sale years ago. Name recognition is a wonderful thing sometimes, isn't it.
This story does not feature Mrs. Pollifax. Our main character here is a sheltered young woman named Amelia Jones. She is 22 years old and still struggling to recover from her childhood. She is insecure, shy, still traumatized by what she saw at age 11, but she wants very much to become 'normal'. She is also wealthy and buys herself a carousel horse one day after seeing it in the window of an antique store. this is the beginning of her Grand Adventure. She passes the shop again, sees another carousel horse in the window, and since she doesn't have room for it in her little apartment she ends up buying the whole store and taking over the business.
While examining her new treasures she finds a note hidden inside a hurdy-gurdy and becomes quite obsessed. Was it a joke? Or was someone really about to kill the woman who wrote the note? She has to find out. In typical 'nosy female sleuth' fashion, Amelia then launches into her own investigation of the hurdy-gurdy and its many previous owners, eventually finding not only the truth about the writer of the note but many truths about her own life.
If you like such stories, this is an entertaining one. I liked it much better years ago, but my tastes have changed now and I am putting it in the Give Away pile. It's not the book, it's me. Really.
Dorothy Gilman is best known for her Mrs. Pollifax novels. I've read one or two of those, and I suppose that is what originally led to my buying this one at a book sale years ago. Name recognition is a wonderful thing sometimes, isn't it.
This story does not feature Mrs. Pollifax. Our main character here is a sheltered young woman named Amelia Jones. She is 22 years old and still struggling to recover from her childhood. She is insecure, shy, still traumatized by what she saw at age 11, but she wants very much to become 'normal'. She is also wealthy and buys herself a carousel horse one day after seeing it in the window of an antique store. this is the beginning of her Grand Adventure. She passes the shop again, sees another carousel horse in the window, and since she doesn't have room for it in her little apartment she ends up buying the whole store and taking over the business.
While examining her new treasures she finds a note hidden inside a hurdy-gurdy and becomes quite obsessed. Was it a joke? Or was someone really about to kill the woman who wrote the note? She has to find out. In typical 'nosy female sleuth' fashion, Amelia then launches into her own investigation of the hurdy-gurdy and its many previous owners, eventually finding not only the truth about the writer of the note but many truths about her own life.
If you like such stories, this is an entertaining one. I liked it much better years ago, but my tastes have changed now and I am putting it in the Give Away pile. It's not the book, it's me. Really.
January 8, 2008
One of my all-time favourite books. Gilman superbly captures the feeling of growing up "odd" & lonely. The lead is as 3 dimensional, complex, contradictory, & endearing as any young woman you've ever known. As Amelia ventures further & further outside of her comfort zones, you find yourself travelling with her, rooting for her, & ultimately feeling a little more alive yourself. An utterly charming & sincere "coming of age" story, barely even dated with its many years.
December 7, 2014
"The curiosity that killed Schrodinger's cat was the only thing that kept him alive, matter of fact. - Eyedea ('Infrared Roses')
Her walls were held up by their quotes to set your watch to. They skipped the butterflies feeling or any real book that kept you good company on your way on their way to inspirational quotes for those who shut their eyes and lived by the first page they opened. If magic eight balls were a thing yet Amelia probably would have been all over "outcome unlikely" and such words to live your life by. I wondered why she ignored the very good advice from her shrink (posthumously put in her path by her fading father). I've given that same advice to raw edges killing you slowly people to create a soothing living space. I think he was telling her to get seeds of life that whole time. Her teen years into her twenties, fetaling. Whatever, I for one agreed that she should have looked into some kind of skill to, you know, get a job or anything that got her away from your back to therapist's leather and horrorscope hell. What a rut. I'm still scratching my head over the guru she walks into (a fellow boarding house guest gives her his name and is never seen again. Amelia would have had him born for his walk on part). Guru guy peppers her feeling her way into the world with what sounded, to me, like something you'd get out of a motivational calendar. This isn't different, come on. I guess everyone was doing gurus to be like George Harrison in the 1970s? Well, the cocooned Amelia picks up her nest, cotton and all, and moves into the antique shop complete with upstairs apartment. It fell into her lap and she can afford it because her deceased father had settled a small fortune on her. The shrink was wasting his breath on Amelia. She doesn't have to do more than close her eyes and go with what is already there. It's annoying as hell that she doesn't care about basic good business sense (such as inventory!) until the mysterious note from a woman about to be murdered is found in the shop's hurdy-gurdy. Is that going to make her any money? "I like this too much to sell it"? Yet she's doing it to the end. I know I'm told she's so much better at it than her predecessor. Yeah, when I was a would-be shut-in youth it would have been too easy to retreat into everything done for me. I am both envious and irritated as hell that it works out for her as it does. I don't believe it more than anything else. One of her quotes should have told her that you should learn to cook and learn how to fish.
So the mission to find out what really happened to Hannah is the curiosity that saves the cat. It's too easy to roll humpty dumpty's egg shell on the clue trail. A new prostitute BFF and a penthouse dom. I appreciated the hideous descriptions of 1970s fashions. In costume dramas they too often go with what people still wear. Make way for a new boyfriend (she notices his sign, of course). All detectives choose handwriting experts for their leads. The boyfriend is also authentically '70s and a Lifetime movie about the abusive husband in the making. The guru was sleeping on the job to not tell her to dump a guy who goes into a rage when she already had plans on the weekend of the date he didn't even ask her to do in the first place. From the not quite three months of the '70s I lived, I remember that it wasn't done to put all the blame on murderers on their unfeeling parents. But, but he had to bear with his ambitious guardian! The young couple truly loved each other and they would have been happy if only they didn't want poor Hannah's money. The humanity! Nieces father didn't give her enough love. Hannah arranged fun activities for their summer visits but they weren't enough to dim the beautiful glow of the first cute boy who looked at her. Well, the killer didn't change his last name and his vote for me! posters are all over town when Amelia and after-school special boyfriend (he's a big shot because he uses an answering service) go clue hunting. Ask some neighbors who might have long memories. She FINALLY realizes the actor she already interviewed who has the same name as the guy cited in the murder note is the same person. It's not until a violent denouement does she connect the dots about the posters. She's not good at detecting if it were up to me. I get that a mystery can take you out of yourself but it wasn't too convincing when she's babying herself the whole time with her past pain of a mommy who didn't revolve around Amelia. The suggestion of loneliness on the air, of voids waiting on the other side of anyone's beaches you could try to communicate with. I'm afraid of coddling myself as much as Amelia does, something like that. Messages in the bottles or a mutual belief in Zoltar machines. Anything. I get that and I know that somewhere in this mess of a book there was a good moral of the story. Amelia has a beloved childhood novel that chances its way back into her life (she had an aunt who cared enough to try and breathe interest back into her, years ago. Why does she pass her by for another consuming personality like the stupid boyfriend? Because she couldn't really want to live for herself). The dead woman was going to be the author all along. I knew that and I didn't care about her outside of general "murder is wrong", or want to read THAT book (Gilman did write it. I own it and I don't want to read it. I wonder if she thought her best-book-ever-written was that). It's a pilgrim's progress of wanting to live by picking up and living. A sort of fantasy adventure where the postcard about the journey mattering more is true. Give me a Miyazaki film. That's what you do and you don't pet yourself this damn much, like Amelia does, and find that you've been walking the whole time you were afraid you couldn't. The good moral of the story doesn't do any more for me than some little book of calm would. I have an idea that you can get out of being too big for yourself by living somewhere else. People who live make choices. So yeah, they did choose to kill that woman. That saying about no one having a gun to their heads totally applies. Oh yeah, and where did Amelia get off considering abandoning the Hannah case when discovering she was rich? She didn't feel close to her anymore. Amelia, you never have to work and, as far as I could tell, didn't go to school either. If people who live in bubbles aren't close to you then I don't know who could be.
Her walls were held up by their quotes to set your watch to. They skipped the butterflies feeling or any real book that kept you good company on your way on their way to inspirational quotes for those who shut their eyes and lived by the first page they opened. If magic eight balls were a thing yet Amelia probably would have been all over "outcome unlikely" and such words to live your life by. I wondered why she ignored the very good advice from her shrink (posthumously put in her path by her fading father). I've given that same advice to raw edges killing you slowly people to create a soothing living space. I think he was telling her to get seeds of life that whole time. Her teen years into her twenties, fetaling. Whatever, I for one agreed that she should have looked into some kind of skill to, you know, get a job or anything that got her away from your back to therapist's leather and horrorscope hell. What a rut. I'm still scratching my head over the guru she walks into (a fellow boarding house guest gives her his name and is never seen again. Amelia would have had him born for his walk on part). Guru guy peppers her feeling her way into the world with what sounded, to me, like something you'd get out of a motivational calendar. This isn't different, come on. I guess everyone was doing gurus to be like George Harrison in the 1970s? Well, the cocooned Amelia picks up her nest, cotton and all, and moves into the antique shop complete with upstairs apartment. It fell into her lap and she can afford it because her deceased father had settled a small fortune on her. The shrink was wasting his breath on Amelia. She doesn't have to do more than close her eyes and go with what is already there. It's annoying as hell that she doesn't care about basic good business sense (such as inventory!) until the mysterious note from a woman about to be murdered is found in the shop's hurdy-gurdy. Is that going to make her any money? "I like this too much to sell it"? Yet she's doing it to the end. I know I'm told she's so much better at it than her predecessor. Yeah, when I was a would-be shut-in youth it would have been too easy to retreat into everything done for me. I am both envious and irritated as hell that it works out for her as it does. I don't believe it more than anything else. One of her quotes should have told her that you should learn to cook and learn how to fish.
I considered this because, after all, what had it given me besides entertainment? "It gave me a certain feeling," I said, choosing words cautiously, "and out of this feeling came the idea that maybe life isn't meant to be easy, that it's a kind of pilgrimage or testing ground, and we have to fight like warriors to live. I mean to live well.
So the mission to find out what really happened to Hannah is the curiosity that saves the cat. It's too easy to roll humpty dumpty's egg shell on the clue trail. A new prostitute BFF and a penthouse dom. I appreciated the hideous descriptions of 1970s fashions. In costume dramas they too often go with what people still wear. Make way for a new boyfriend (she notices his sign, of course). All detectives choose handwriting experts for their leads. The boyfriend is also authentically '70s and a Lifetime movie about the abusive husband in the making. The guru was sleeping on the job to not tell her to dump a guy who goes into a rage when she already had plans on the weekend of the date he didn't even ask her to do in the first place. From the not quite three months of the '70s I lived, I remember that it wasn't done to put all the blame on murderers on their unfeeling parents. But, but he had to bear with his ambitious guardian! The young couple truly loved each other and they would have been happy if only they didn't want poor Hannah's money. The humanity! Nieces father didn't give her enough love. Hannah arranged fun activities for their summer visits but they weren't enough to dim the beautiful glow of the first cute boy who looked at her. Well, the killer didn't change his last name and his vote for me! posters are all over town when Amelia and after-school special boyfriend (he's a big shot because he uses an answering service) go clue hunting. Ask some neighbors who might have long memories. She FINALLY realizes the actor she already interviewed who has the same name as the guy cited in the murder note is the same person. It's not until a violent denouement does she connect the dots about the posters. She's not good at detecting if it were up to me. I get that a mystery can take you out of yourself but it wasn't too convincing when she's babying herself the whole time with her past pain of a mommy who didn't revolve around Amelia. The suggestion of loneliness on the air, of voids waiting on the other side of anyone's beaches you could try to communicate with. I'm afraid of coddling myself as much as Amelia does, something like that. Messages in the bottles or a mutual belief in Zoltar machines. Anything. I get that and I know that somewhere in this mess of a book there was a good moral of the story. Amelia has a beloved childhood novel that chances its way back into her life (she had an aunt who cared enough to try and breathe interest back into her, years ago. Why does she pass her by for another consuming personality like the stupid boyfriend? Because she couldn't really want to live for herself). The dead woman was going to be the author all along. I knew that and I didn't care about her outside of general "murder is wrong", or want to read THAT book (Gilman did write it. I own it and I don't want to read it. I wonder if she thought her best-book-ever-written was that). It's a pilgrim's progress of wanting to live by picking up and living. A sort of fantasy adventure where the postcard about the journey mattering more is true. Give me a Miyazaki film. That's what you do and you don't pet yourself this damn much, like Amelia does, and find that you've been walking the whole time you were afraid you couldn't. The good moral of the story doesn't do any more for me than some little book of calm would. I have an idea that you can get out of being too big for yourself by living somewhere else. People who live make choices. So yeah, they did choose to kill that woman. That saying about no one having a gun to their heads totally applies. Oh yeah, and where did Amelia get off considering abandoning the Hannah case when discovering she was rich? She didn't feel close to her anymore. Amelia, you never have to work and, as far as I could tell, didn't go to school either. If people who live in bubbles aren't close to you then I don't know who could be.
February 7, 2017
I love this book. This along with Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animalsand a few others are books that I re-read about once a year. I first read this when I was about twelve and Amelia's quirkiness and loneliness were so appealing.
Dorothy Gilman always creates wonderful characters and Amelia is one of her best. Amelia is an appealing and quirky heroine with her insecurities and her search for emotional as well as physical bravery.
The premise of the story is that Amelia finds a note in a old hurdy gurdy (a music box) that states the writer is about to be killed. Amelia's journey to find the victim and the murderer is part adventure, part self-exploration. Toss in a good guy hero who helps her despite his concerns, a book full of three-dimensional secondary characters, and a solid mystery and it's a 5 star for me.
Every time I read I get a chill because I know I am going to read a wonderful story once again. It may sound crazy to re-read something you know so well, but what the heck.
Give this charming book a try.
Dorothy Gilman always creates wonderful characters and Amelia is one of her best. Amelia is an appealing and quirky heroine with her insecurities and her search for emotional as well as physical bravery.
The premise of the story is that Amelia finds a note in a old hurdy gurdy (a music box) that states the writer is about to be killed. Amelia's journey to find the victim and the murderer is part adventure, part self-exploration. Toss in a good guy hero who helps her despite his concerns, a book full of three-dimensional secondary characters, and a solid mystery and it's a 5 star for me.
Every time I read I get a chill because I know I am going to read a wonderful story once again. It may sound crazy to re-read something you know so well, but what the heck.
Give this charming book a try.
October 30, 2019
I love the Mrs. Pollifax books - what fun. But her non-Pollifax books are real gems.
October 3, 2016
Wonderful mystery with a very determined heroine. She was a troubled orphan who really came into her own. The ending is really edge of your seat reading!
Only downside was having Donovan's "Hurdy-Gurdy Man" come singing songs of love stuck in my mind. And turns out it's not even a hurdy-gurdy in the book.
Only downside was having Donovan's "Hurdy-Gurdy Man" come singing songs of love stuck in my mind. And turns out it's not even a hurdy-gurdy in the book.
April 25, 2024
Mystery/thriller with romance. I really enjoyed this book! You can definitely tell it was written in the 70s but the shop setting and the main characters were wonderful.
I wanted to read this mystery so I could then read The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, also by Gilman. The author of this mystery uses a made-up book as a plot device but fans of the book kept asking about the book within a book so she eventually wrote it! What a wild path!
I wanted to read this mystery so I could then read The Maze in the Heart of the Castle, also by Gilman. The author of this mystery uses a made-up book as a plot device but fans of the book kept asking about the book within a book so she eventually wrote it! What a wild path!
March 10, 2022
Amelia Jones is a naive 22 y/o who is trying to find out what a normal life is after a tragedy in her childhood and apparently years of interesting therapy. She finds herself without purpose and impetuously buys an antique shop. She is intrigued by a hurdy-gurdy & discovers an ominous note stuck inside it of which the opening lines are They're going to kill me soon -in a few hours, I think - and somehow they'll arrange it so no one will ever guess I was murdered Wow, that was the hook for me! And for Amelia, as her curiosity stirs her into action to find out about the author of the note and what did happen to her. Unfortunately, the story moves along in fits and starts & isn't until nearly halfway through is my interest truly piqued again. From that point on its moves on in a brisk pace to its conclusion.
There are a couple of disparate threads that weave Amelia more tightly in pursuing this mystery, that had me raising my eyebrows a number of times. Her initial plunging into trying to find some clues and the follow through seemed out of character for the Amelia that we meet in the beginning of the story, but I was willing to go with it. Perhaps an allegory to a coming into her own and beginning to blossom as an adult.
This was written in 1979 and I wonder if it were published today of it would be placed in the YA category or cozy genre.
There are a couple of disparate threads that weave Amelia more tightly in pursuing this mystery, that had me raising my eyebrows a number of times. Her initial plunging into trying to find some clues and the follow through seemed out of character for the Amelia that we meet in the beginning of the story, but I was willing to go with it. Perhaps an allegory to a coming into her own and beginning to blossom as an adult.
This was written in 1979 and I wonder if it were published today of it would be placed in the YA category or cozy genre.
January 28, 2013
I read this book again recently. I'm not much of a mystery reader. This is a mystery, but there's a lot of other things going on, too. There's a love story, Amelia's search for peace and confidence, some really interesting side characters like Daisy, and most of all, what I think the book is really about. I think that at its heart The Tightrope Walker is about the relationship between an author and a reader.
***Spoiler Alert***
The book is deeply concerned with a book Amelia read as a child which she became deeply connected to, and which essentially saved her after her mother's suicide, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle. Dorothy Gilman actually wrote it after writing The Tightrope Walker. It's out of print now just like the book Amelia read. Reading some of the reviews it's obvious that many young people were just as moved by Gilman's book as Amelia was by Hannah's. I read it as an adult, and thought it was a good read. I think it might have been a more profound experience if I'd read it as a teen.
We've all had books that moved us, that we might even credit with changing our lives, but the relationship between us and the author of such books is generally one-sided. They've given us a great treasure, we've given little or nothing in return. Maybe we paid a few dollars for the book, but if we bought it used or found it somewhere free on the internet, the author hasn't benefited at all. They likely will never know the impact their words have had on us.
In The Tightrope Walker through some bizarre coincidence, or more likely fate, Amelia finds a note in a Hurdy Gurdy which leads her to solve the murder of her favorite author. The murder itself was chilling in its callousness,so much so that it makes me wonder a little about who I can really trust. The impact of Hannah's book on Amelia's life is inspiring to me. As a writer for young people, (Goblin Fruit), I hope to someday write a story that helps someone as much as The Maze in the Heart of the Castle helped Amelia.
***Spoiler Alert***
The book is deeply concerned with a book Amelia read as a child which she became deeply connected to, and which essentially saved her after her mother's suicide, The Maze in the Heart of the Castle. Dorothy Gilman actually wrote it after writing The Tightrope Walker. It's out of print now just like the book Amelia read. Reading some of the reviews it's obvious that many young people were just as moved by Gilman's book as Amelia was by Hannah's. I read it as an adult, and thought it was a good read. I think it might have been a more profound experience if I'd read it as a teen.
We've all had books that moved us, that we might even credit with changing our lives, but the relationship between us and the author of such books is generally one-sided. They've given us a great treasure, we've given little or nothing in return. Maybe we paid a few dollars for the book, but if we bought it used or found it somewhere free on the internet, the author hasn't benefited at all. They likely will never know the impact their words have had on us.
In The Tightrope Walker through some bizarre coincidence, or more likely fate, Amelia finds a note in a Hurdy Gurdy which leads her to solve the murder of her favorite author. The murder itself was chilling in its callousness,so much so that it makes me wonder a little about who I can really trust. The impact of Hannah's book on Amelia's life is inspiring to me. As a writer for young people, (Goblin Fruit), I hope to someday write a story that helps someone as much as The Maze in the Heart of the Castle helped Amelia.
January 10, 2020
The Tightrope Walker was a quirky little mystery. I enjoyed the endearingly odd protagonist and her single-minded pursuit to help another lonely soul find rest. The book within a book aspect of the story was an added bonus!
August 19, 2025
This was written in 1971, so it is rather dated, but I love Dorothy Gilman, and this is a compelling stand-alone. It's also very nostalgic because it captures a time that I remember from my childhood.
November 10, 2019
A nostalgic pleasure. I read and loved the Mrs. Pollifax books years ago, but somehow never ran across this one. For me, Dorothy Gilman is in the same mental category as Mary Stewart and a few other writers. Romantic suspense, maybe? She was on the much-folded list in my tiniest handwriting that I always brought with me to the library to help me find something to take me away from real life in those years when I really needed it.
Amelia Jones is young and lonely, and her paternalistic psychiatrist has been urging her to Affect Her Environment. Her first step is buying a carousel horse, which leads her to buying a secondhand store, which leads her to finding a mysterious note hidden inside an old hurdy gurdy. Which leads her to adventure and romance in classic Dorothy Gilman fashion. At the heart of Amelia's psyche is a book she read over and over as a child - The Maze at the Heart of the Castle, by H. Gruble. (As it turns out, that's actually the name of a YA or kids' book written by Dorothy Gilman. I envision her falling in love with the idea while she was writing the little snippets of its plot for this book, and deciding to got ahead and write it. Putting that one on my current electronic version of that library to-find list.)
I love the characters Gilman writes. Amelia Jones is real and familiar; she reads self-help books and hates what they say about her but follows their advice anyway; she argues with herself; she's timid but brave when she needs to be. There's a professional handwriting analyst here who has a collapsible pyramid in which he meditates (a lot of characters in this book meditate). There's a guru Amelia starts visiting when she's outgrowing the psychiatrist her father sent her to, and a friendly old man who sold her the secondhand store, and some thoroughly evil villains. And that van with the portholes and pictures of a lighthouse is classic.
The time setting of the story seemed a little odd. It takes place in somewhere around 1975, with the mysterious events in 1965, but there's an orphanage - were there really still orphanages in the 1960s? I graduated from college in 1975 so I don't feel like it's as long ago as it really is, but even so ... In some ways this story felt like it would fit better in the first half of the twentieth century.
Amelia Jones is young and lonely, and her paternalistic psychiatrist has been urging her to Affect Her Environment. Her first step is buying a carousel horse, which leads her to buying a secondhand store, which leads her to finding a mysterious note hidden inside an old hurdy gurdy. Which leads her to adventure and romance in classic Dorothy Gilman fashion. At the heart of Amelia's psyche is a book she read over and over as a child - The Maze at the Heart of the Castle, by H. Gruble. (As it turns out, that's actually the name of a YA or kids' book written by Dorothy Gilman. I envision her falling in love with the idea while she was writing the little snippets of its plot for this book, and deciding to got ahead and write it. Putting that one on my current electronic version of that library to-find list.)
I love the characters Gilman writes. Amelia Jones is real and familiar; she reads self-help books and hates what they say about her but follows their advice anyway; she argues with herself; she's timid but brave when she needs to be. There's a professional handwriting analyst here who has a collapsible pyramid in which he meditates (a lot of characters in this book meditate). There's a guru Amelia starts visiting when she's outgrowing the psychiatrist her father sent her to, and a friendly old man who sold her the secondhand store, and some thoroughly evil villains. And that van with the portholes and pictures of a lighthouse is classic.
The time setting of the story seemed a little odd. It takes place in somewhere around 1975, with the mysterious events in 1965, but there's an orphanage - were there really still orphanages in the 1960s? I graduated from college in 1975 so I don't feel like it's as long ago as it really is, but even so ... In some ways this story felt like it would fit better in the first half of the twentieth century.
December 12, 2024
My first Dorothy Gilman book, which only crossed my path by way of Chantel Reads All Day but immediately caught my eye with this particular cover. Carousel horses do not, alas, feature very strongly in the story -- our MC buys one from an antique store on a whim and then, upon seeing four more in the window a week later, and being out of space in her boardinghouse room but flush with inheritance cash, buys the entire store. Which is how she comes into possession of the life-changing hurdy-gurdy (hand organ), depicted perfectly on the cover of the library/hardcover edition I read here.
But that's just fine. Our MC is only 22, and I can immediately tell this is the kind of book that explains why teens used to jump straight into reading adult books by the time they started high school, if not before, despite the fact that teen books have existed since the middle of the 20th century. It's not very long and it's an easy read, still perfectly suited to adults and more complex in both story and themes than a children's mystery, but equally accessible to younger readers.
This is my LONG-winded way of saying that while I wasn't sure at the beginning, finding her history with psychology and the visits to the philosophical Amman Singh quite tedious, as soon as that note appeared, I was HOOKED. I was glued to the page as Amelia traced the instrument's history of ownership from person to person (no small feat in the pre-internet days; lots of legwork involved), until she discovered Hannah's likely identity, and then the story somehow got ten times more intense and exciting. There's even a little romance tossed in (I did get a kick out of "Thus was I deflowered, as the Victorians would say").
I still can't believe how emotional I got about Hannah. Justiiiiiiice! *shakes fist*
Also I need to talk more about that, including the ending, behind a spoiler cut:
But that's just fine. Our MC is only 22, and I can immediately tell this is the kind of book that explains why teens used to jump straight into reading adult books by the time they started high school, if not before, despite the fact that teen books have existed since the middle of the 20th century. It's not very long and it's an easy read, still perfectly suited to adults and more complex in both story and themes than a children's mystery, but equally accessible to younger readers.
This is my LONG-winded way of saying that while I wasn't sure at the beginning, finding her history with psychology and the visits to the philosophical Amman Singh quite tedious, as soon as that note appeared, I was HOOKED. I was glued to the page as Amelia traced the instrument's history of ownership from person to person (no small feat in the pre-internet days; lots of legwork involved), until she discovered Hannah's likely identity, and then the story somehow got ten times more intense and exciting. There's even a little romance tossed in (I did get a kick out of "Thus was I deflowered, as the Victorians would say").
I still can't believe how emotional I got about Hannah. Justiiiiiiice! *shakes fist*
Also I need to talk more about that, including the ending, behind a spoiler cut:
September 22, 2020
This is not my kind of book, but I enjoyed the beginning with all the references to Jung and meditation. I would have liked more of that, but the mystery was well built and profited from the main character's naivety, that I loved. It was a fast and easy reading and I liked also the mystery with the fantasy book and her having read it as a child, that reminded me of The Magicians. For lovers of mystery and cute characters.
January 17, 2021
I got this because a) someone in the Legendary Book Club of Habitica guild on Habitica named it as one of their favourite books for a group readalong, and b) I've been meaning to try Dorothy Gilman's books for a while (albeit I usually get recommended the Mrs Pollifax books). At the beginning, Amelia finds a note hidden in a hurdy-gurdy in the antique shop she's recently purchased.
Amelia's had a life half-sheltered by adults (her father, and then a psychiatrist her father paid to help her) and half-wrenched awry by the suicide of her mother when she was a child; she's very naive at times, and yet surprisingly strong and driven once she finds something to care about... and she quickly comes to care about the contents of that note, which allege that the writer was held captive and forced to sign some kind of document she didn't want to sign, and that she knows she will soon be killed. Amelia wants to find her, wants to know what happened, and she sets about doing just that.
I found myself caring a lot about Amelia and her quest; it all fell together almost too neatly, the coincidences all lining up to provide clues and to hook Amelia closer into her little quest... but something about her frank tone and determination won me over. Joe's less knowable, given the narration, but the way he decides to help her with her little quest makes his character work for me as well. The relationship between them is a little quick, but it's kind of like in Mary Stewart's novels -- in the context, I don't really question it.
Pretty enjoyable, anyway! And I will have to read more of Dorothy Gilman's work.
Amelia's had a life half-sheltered by adults (her father, and then a psychiatrist her father paid to help her) and half-wrenched awry by the suicide of her mother when she was a child; she's very naive at times, and yet surprisingly strong and driven once she finds something to care about... and she quickly comes to care about the contents of that note, which allege that the writer was held captive and forced to sign some kind of document she didn't want to sign, and that she knows she will soon be killed. Amelia wants to find her, wants to know what happened, and she sets about doing just that.
I found myself caring a lot about Amelia and her quest; it all fell together almost too neatly, the coincidences all lining up to provide clues and to hook Amelia closer into her little quest... but something about her frank tone and determination won me over. Joe's less knowable, given the narration, but the way he decides to help her with her little quest makes his character work for me as well. The relationship between them is a little quick, but it's kind of like in Mary Stewart's novels -- in the context, I don't really question it.
Pretty enjoyable, anyway! And I will have to read more of Dorothy Gilman's work.
August 30, 2024
Forgivably implausible and relentlessly enchanting.
December 23, 2022
Reread as Im trying to squeeze every drop of enjoyment I can out of Gilmans books before I move on to another author who pobably isnt going to measure up. Sob. All her books are so readable exciting, fresh and cozy even though there are dark elements. A genuine delight. Also I love the sprinkles of soul searching and spirituality in them.
**Something different than Mrs Pollifax, slightly more like the Clairvoyant countess in tone, but a more thriller like story in a dream or awakening.
Amelia Jones is scared of life. Her father sends her to a therapist weekly and she keeps going for years even after he passes. She slowly comes out of her cocoon, meeting new people, even buying an antiques shop with her inheritance.
Then she finds the note in the Hurdy Gurdy. "Theyre going to kill me..¨·
What a wierd name for an instrument, had to google that.. Then her life is a freefall of meeting strangers one after another, travelling and realising that her queries are stirring something bigger than small fish. If shes not careful she could get killed too. Adventure, Thrills and Romance abound!
Its a fun unique story, rather dreamy and slow but enjoyable.
**Something different than Mrs Pollifax, slightly more like the Clairvoyant countess in tone, but a more thriller like story in a dream or awakening.
Amelia Jones is scared of life. Her father sends her to a therapist weekly and she keeps going for years even after he passes. She slowly comes out of her cocoon, meeting new people, even buying an antiques shop with her inheritance.
Then she finds the note in the Hurdy Gurdy. "Theyre going to kill me..¨·
What a wierd name for an instrument, had to google that.. Then her life is a freefall of meeting strangers one after another, travelling and realising that her queries are stirring something bigger than small fish. If shes not careful she could get killed too. Adventure, Thrills and Romance abound!
Its a fun unique story, rather dreamy and slow but enjoyable.
October 14, 2012
I love Dorothy Gilman's writing, and this book in particular! It's just as enjoyable today as it was when this book was published over 25 years ago. Her prim, outwardly naive writing style charms me, and somehow she always made it work, even in action-packed murder mysteries with bullets flying. (She was also the author of the "Mrs. Pollifax" series, stories about a grandmother who becomes a spy in her 60s.)
The Tightrope Walker is not only an absorbing mystery with a main character who's both vulnerable and strong as steel, but also a glorious celebration of character arc. I don't know any other writer who can depict the gritty reality of death and damaged lives but still complete the story, not just happily, but with an uplifting ending.
This one gave me a smile of sheer joy - don't miss it!
The Tightrope Walker is not only an absorbing mystery with a main character who's both vulnerable and strong as steel, but also a glorious celebration of character arc. I don't know any other writer who can depict the gritty reality of death and damaged lives but still complete the story, not just happily, but with an uplifting ending.
This one gave me a smile of sheer joy - don't miss it!
July 27, 2013
As the mystery genre is severely lacking in my book history, my very good friend Zoe sent me this as an example of one of her favorites. And for good reason! This is one of those books that's a blast to devour. The protagonist is amazing. She's so incredibly believable and interesting in of herself; she comes across as a real human being that you want to learn more about. But Gilman doesn't overload you with personality, she intricately intertwines the story, the mystery, and the characters effortlessly for one truly exceptional read.
NOTE - 7/27/13 - I just re-read this and it's just as incredible as it was the first time. Is there a better heroine out there than Amelia Jones? I can't think of a single one.
NOTE - 7/27/13 - I just re-read this and it's just as incredible as it was the first time. Is there a better heroine out there than Amelia Jones? I can't think of a single one.
May 17, 2016
I just finished reading The Tightrope Walker by Dorothy Gilman for the second time. Dorothy Gilman is an excellent storyteller and all of her mysteries, including her famous Mrs. Pollifax series are outstanding.
This was an intriguing story of a young woman who finds an obscure, chilling message hidden in an antique hurdy-gurdy which speaks of the author's fear of her own demise. With a sense of urgency, the young woman embanks on a dangerous journey to find the author of the message and unravels an almost perfect crime.
Throughout this novel with its many twists and turns, there is lots of suspense, unique characters, a bit of romance, and an involved complex plot. Dorothy Gilman never disappoints.
This was an intriguing story of a young woman who finds an obscure, chilling message hidden in an antique hurdy-gurdy which speaks of the author's fear of her own demise. With a sense of urgency, the young woman embanks on a dangerous journey to find the author of the message and unravels an almost perfect crime.
Throughout this novel with its many twists and turns, there is lots of suspense, unique characters, a bit of romance, and an involved complex plot. Dorothy Gilman never disappoints.
February 8, 2025
I like all of Ms Gilman's books that I have read. This one is another annual reread.
Two small inconsistencies:
1) When Amelia first meets Joe he says, My friends call me Os." He is not referred to as Os again in the book. She always calls him Joe.
2) He assumes she will accompany him to his parents anniversary weekend, without asking her first. At her refusal, he blows up and becomes nasty, aggressive, and abusive. Two days later he shows up as if it never happened and never displays that type of behavior again. Very out of character with the rest of the book.
Both instances left me wondering why they were included in the book. Some plot twist that didn't go anywhere?
Two small inconsistencies:
1) When Amelia first meets Joe he says, My friends call me Os." He is not referred to as Os again in the book. She always calls him Joe.
2) He assumes she will accompany him to his parents anniversary weekend, without asking her first. At her refusal, he blows up and becomes nasty, aggressive, and abusive. Two days later he shows up as if it never happened and never displays that type of behavior again. Very out of character with the rest of the book.
Both instances left me wondering why they were included in the book. Some plot twist that didn't go anywhere?
February 9, 2025
oh my. I've owned this book so long, combined with a number of re-reads, the now the covers have completely left the rest of the book. But, I've found a copy, good condition, and it's on its way. Very enjoyable read.
May 27, 2023
Between a cross-country move with two pet ducks, unpacking many boxes, assembling a lot of furniture and killing scorpions (hello, Texas!), my reading had taken a big hit. I haven't been able to maintain much interest in anything so I thought this short mystery would do the trick, it came highly recommended. Overall it was unusual but not outstanding.
It was an odd story, set and written in the 70s and feels very much of its time. The premise is fascinating, a note discovered inside a musical instrument written by a woman who writes that she is about to be murdered... An interesting heroine on a path of self-discovery after a tragic past but without it becoming a trauma porn overwhelming storyline. The mystery itself is quite interesting because of who the note writer turned out to be and the circumstances surrounding the creation of the note. But there is also a romance here that is quite off-putting: old fashioned and not in a good way, with a guy whom she's just met and who constantly tells her what to do and chastises her, ugh. It's like Jane Austen's Emma and Knightley if Knightley was more annoying. And they were trying to solve an old crime.
On the positive side, this is really a story of growth and self-discovery for the heroine and in that sense is satisfying. It mostly kept my interest despite all the distractions, but I doubt I'll ever re-read it and I won't be in a rush to seek out more Dorothy Gilmans.
It was an odd story, set and written in the 70s and feels very much of its time. The premise is fascinating, a note discovered inside a musical instrument written by a woman who writes that she is about to be murdered... An interesting heroine on a path of self-discovery after a tragic past but without it becoming a trauma porn overwhelming storyline. The mystery itself is quite interesting because of who the note writer turned out to be and the circumstances surrounding the creation of the note. But there is also a romance here that is quite off-putting: old fashioned and not in a good way, with a guy whom she's just met and who constantly tells her what to do and chastises her, ugh. It's like Jane Austen's Emma and Knightley if Knightley was more annoying. And they were trying to solve an old crime.
On the positive side, this is really a story of growth and self-discovery for the heroine and in that sense is satisfying. It mostly kept my interest despite all the distractions, but I doubt I'll ever re-read it and I won't be in a rush to seek out more Dorothy Gilmans.
May 7, 2019
This book reminds me of the numerous Barbara Michaels books I read and loved as a young teen. Written in 1979, Tightrope Walker strongly conjures the time and place in which the book was written and contemporaneously occurs. I have a particular soft spot for books that like this, which were written in the late 60s to early 80s, and which capture the world I grew up in (example: Judy Blume, Lois Duncan, Barbara Michaels, Cynthia Voigt, etc).
This is a story about an isolated young woman recovering from a difficult childhood, who nevertheless luckily is independently wealthy enough to pursue her own way and own adventures. After buying an antique store, she finds a clue to a crime hidden within one of the artifacts, hunts down the truth, and acquires love along the way. A marvelous book.
Side note: I had never heard of Dorothy Gilman before I picked up the first of the Mrs Pollifax books earlier this year (also entirely by chance). What an awesome discovery! I have already zoomed through the first three Mrs Pollifax books (which are incredibly charming) and will certainly be picking up more non-Pollifax Gilmans as well as finishing the Pollifax series).
This is a story about an isolated young woman recovering from a difficult childhood, who nevertheless luckily is independently wealthy enough to pursue her own way and own adventures. After buying an antique store, she finds a clue to a crime hidden within one of the artifacts, hunts down the truth, and acquires love along the way. A marvelous book.
Side note: I had never heard of Dorothy Gilman before I picked up the first of the Mrs Pollifax books earlier this year (also entirely by chance). What an awesome discovery! I have already zoomed through the first three Mrs Pollifax books (which are incredibly charming) and will certainly be picking up more non-Pollifax Gilmans as well as finishing the Pollifax series).
February 8, 2022
This is an enjoyable thriller/ mystery written in the 1970's. Mrs. Gilman was far better known for her Mrs. Pollifax series, but her stand-alone books were also popular.
The Tightrope Walker is the story of Amelia Jones, a young woman with a sad childhood. She has been recently orphaned and has inherited enough money to do what she wants. On a whim, she buys an antique store with quirky merchandise. One night, when playing a hurdy-gurdy from the shop, she finds a mysterious note stuck inside the machine. The note seems to indicate that a woman named Hannah fears for her life. When was the note put there? Who was Hannah, and what happened to her?
Searching for the story behind this note becomes an obsession for Amelia, luring her out of her safe existence. Following clues, she finds who the hurdy-gurdy belonged to over the years and who Hannah was.
This book reminded me of an American version of the type of mystery Mary Stewart wrote. Recommended.
The Tightrope Walker is the story of Amelia Jones, a young woman with a sad childhood. She has been recently orphaned and has inherited enough money to do what she wants. On a whim, she buys an antique store with quirky merchandise. One night, when playing a hurdy-gurdy from the shop, she finds a mysterious note stuck inside the machine. The note seems to indicate that a woman named Hannah fears for her life. When was the note put there? Who was Hannah, and what happened to her?
Searching for the story behind this note becomes an obsession for Amelia, luring her out of her safe existence. Following clues, she finds who the hurdy-gurdy belonged to over the years and who Hannah was.
This book reminded me of an American version of the type of mystery Mary Stewart wrote. Recommended.
August 7, 2024
I loved the Mrs Pollifax series so when I found a few of her other books in the Audible Plus catalogue (free to read toAudible members), I had to download them. They are enjoyable reads.
The heroine of this book, Amelia, is a 22-year-old woman who was traumatized by a childhood event. Her rich father paid for her to have a therapist who helped her some. But her breakthrough resulted from being introduced to an elderly seer who became like a guru to her (keep in mind the book was published in 1979). Her father's death left her quite well off. She buys an antique shop, actually the whole building with all its contents and an upstairs apartment. She moves into the apartment. She finds, tucked into a "hurdy gurdy," a note beginning with the words "they are going to kill me soon" and signed "Hannah." Amelia sets off to find out who Hannah was and if she was murdered.
There's action - guns are used - and even a bit of romance. I enjoyed it.
The heroine of this book, Amelia, is a 22-year-old woman who was traumatized by a childhood event. Her rich father paid for her to have a therapist who helped her some. But her breakthrough resulted from being introduced to an elderly seer who became like a guru to her (keep in mind the book was published in 1979). Her father's death left her quite well off. She buys an antique shop, actually the whole building with all its contents and an upstairs apartment. She moves into the apartment. She finds, tucked into a "hurdy gurdy," a note beginning with the words "they are going to kill me soon" and signed "Hannah." Amelia sets off to find out who Hannah was and if she was murdered.
There's action - guns are used - and even a bit of romance. I enjoyed it.
April 4, 2018
This book was published in the late 1970’s, but it reads like it was from an earlier, simpler time. While technically this story is a mystery, it is more complicated than that. The book is really about 23-year old Amelia's search for peace and confidence in herself, and how she finds love in an unlikely place. I loved Amelia because she discovered strength and personality within herself, and I loved following her as her confidence grew. Of course, her new-found friend Joe helped a lot, but from my own experience I’ve learned that having someone in your court who believes in you (perhaps more than you do in yourself) is a great gift. In Amelia’s case, Joe is that gift. I love the author’s simple writing style. Her books are easy to read, and always quirky and interesting.
June 9, 2023
This intense mystery begins with the owner of an antique shop, Amelia, finding a disturbing note in an antique hurdy-gurdy from someone named Hannah. "They're going to kill me soon.." Studying the contents of the rest of the chilling note, and tracing the history of the hurdy-gurdy, Amelia goes on a dogged search to discover who Hannah is and what happened to her. Amelia finds the answers with the assistance of her friend, Joe (who becomes much more than a friend). However, the answers come at the peril of her own life. Loved this book.
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