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Aunt Jane's Nieces #3
Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville is a young-adult novel by L. Frank Baum, written under the pen name Edith Van Dyne and the third book in the Aunt Jane's series. The story picks up after the three cousins return from Europe in Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad. Uncle John and the cousins head north to a farm in upper New York State to escape the city's heat during the approaching summer. There they become involved with the mystery of death and missing fortunes.
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First published January 1, 1908
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 31, 2017
I just love the Aunt Jane's Nieces stories, and each one pleasantly surprises me. The simple story lines really keep my interest and the characters are funny and likeable.
In this book, Uncle John acquires a run-down farm in the country, and promptly proposes to spend the summer there with his three favorite nieces. The local village is all agog at the fancy "citified" furniture, decorations, and trappings that come in to furnish the old farmhouse with more "modern" conveniences.
The summering party arrives in the country and finds a mystery to unravel regarding the previous owners of the farm, an old sea-captain who died under questionable circumstances, and his wayward son who is currently missing. The nieces find a plethora of suspects in the little village, but can find no concrete evidence to support their wild theories of murder, burglary, and fraud. Ultimately, the girls have to explain their suspicions to their Uncle John, and they discover that the truth is entirely different than they had imagined.
I loved how this book blends together elements of comedy and drama into every chapter. There are some really funny scenes with the local village population trying to swindle rich Uncle John out of his money. And there are heartbreaking scenes of poor people in trouble, needing friendship and aid from the girls.
The scenes flow together really well, and kept me reading with interest and delight!
In this book, Uncle John acquires a run-down farm in the country, and promptly proposes to spend the summer there with his three favorite nieces. The local village is all agog at the fancy "citified" furniture, decorations, and trappings that come in to furnish the old farmhouse with more "modern" conveniences.
The summering party arrives in the country and finds a mystery to unravel regarding the previous owners of the farm, an old sea-captain who died under questionable circumstances, and his wayward son who is currently missing. The nieces find a plethora of suspects in the little village, but can find no concrete evidence to support their wild theories of murder, burglary, and fraud. Ultimately, the girls have to explain their suspicions to their Uncle John, and they discover that the truth is entirely different than they had imagined.
I loved how this book blends together elements of comedy and drama into every chapter. There are some really funny scenes with the local village population trying to swindle rich Uncle John out of his money. And there are heartbreaking scenes of poor people in trouble, needing friendship and aid from the girls.
The scenes flow together really well, and kept me reading with interest and delight!
April 20, 2011
Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville by L. Frank Baum writing as Edith Van Dyne is the third book in a series written for young girls. It was originally published in 1908. The three nieces are Louise Merrick, Elizabeth De Graf, and Patsy Doyle and in this book they go to a fictional upstate New York town called Millville for the summer with their rich uncle John who has gotten a farmhouse there as payment for a bad debt. Much of the novel deals with the vast cultural differences between the small town farmers of the town and the rich "nabobs" living in the summer house. Soon after moving in the three young women sense a mystery in the sudden death of the previous owner of the house, a seaman named Captain Wegg, and the disappearance of his fortune. Suspecting murder and theft, each of the nieces has her own theory as to what happened and who may be guilty. The plot develops nicely providing a pleasant mystery/detective book with a happy ending.
May 18, 2009
The most boring of the stories so far. Not sure if I'll continue to read the series.
June 24, 2013
Delightful.
January 23, 2026
The multi-stage mysteries make the plot lively, with twists and surprises that nevertheless fit the book’s characters and context well. A strength of the stages is that each has a different focus: the power of grief, the failure of gossips in a small town to appreciate loyalty, legalities. As with other books in this series, a particular appeal is some of the secondary characters – Hucks and Nora, Joe Wegg.
Metaphorosis finds one of the chapters gratuitously mean. I agree. On second thought I wondered whether we object to different chapters. The watermelon victim felt recognizable and realistic enough to deserve the punishment, so I enjoyed that escapade thoroughly. The chapter did require an extra shot of voluntary suspension of disbelief that the Major and Uncle John didn’t realize the girls had gone out. But taunting a visitor whose intelligence, upbringing, and education handed him solid disadvantages, and who realized he was being mocked but didn’t understand quite how, wasn’t funny at all. I forgive; it’s a small flaw in this otherwise pleasantly gauzy story.
It feels like Baum is being very careful about how he presents courtship and romance in this series, and I enjoy the sense of watching over his shoulder. I presume he wants the books above all to present good examples for girls Victorians would have considered too young for any mate-seeking. Louise’s ventures, for example, are almost warnings. During the trip in ‘Abroad’, wise Uncle John pointedly says that at seventeen she is too young to become engaged. In this book Edith’s story is told well from this perspective. It’s sweet, attentive to the solidity of the partners’ friendship and moral worthiness of each other. One gets but a whiff of romance, handled with a feather, suitable for a child of any age. Since I usually think modern fiction writers’ forays far in the other direction to be unalluring and therefore counterproductive, extreme alternative feels lovely as a summer day.
The story has multiple instances of illnesses brought on by emotional trauma that Victorians thought entirely organic but are no longer widely recognized as medically likely: Joe’s mother’s “brain fever”, Edith’s grandfather’s sudden paralysis, Nora’s sudden blindness.
Favorite quotation: "’[T]his isn't a novel, girls; it's mostly suspicion and slander.’" – Patsy Doyle
Metaphorosis finds one of the chapters gratuitously mean. I agree. On second thought I wondered whether we object to different chapters. The watermelon victim felt recognizable and realistic enough to deserve the punishment, so I enjoyed that escapade thoroughly. The chapter did require an extra shot of voluntary suspension of disbelief that the Major and Uncle John didn’t realize the girls had gone out. But taunting a visitor whose intelligence, upbringing, and education handed him solid disadvantages, and who realized he was being mocked but didn’t understand quite how, wasn’t funny at all. I forgive; it’s a small flaw in this otherwise pleasantly gauzy story.
It feels like Baum is being very careful about how he presents courtship and romance in this series, and I enjoy the sense of watching over his shoulder. I presume he wants the books above all to present good examples for girls Victorians would have considered too young for any mate-seeking. Louise’s ventures, for example, are almost warnings. During the trip in ‘Abroad’, wise Uncle John pointedly says that at seventeen she is too young to become engaged. In this book Edith’s story is told well from this perspective. It’s sweet, attentive to the solidity of the partners’ friendship and moral worthiness of each other. One gets but a whiff of romance, handled with a feather, suitable for a child of any age. Since I usually think modern fiction writers’ forays far in the other direction to be unalluring and therefore counterproductive, extreme alternative feels lovely as a summer day.
The story has multiple instances of illnesses brought on by emotional trauma that Victorians thought entirely organic but are no longer widely recognized as medically likely: Joe’s mother’s “brain fever”, Edith’s grandfather’s sudden paralysis, Nora’s sudden blindness.
Favorite quotation: "’[T]his isn't a novel, girls; it's mostly suspicion and slander.’" – Patsy Doyle
April 26, 2023
3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
When Uncle John unexpectedly acquires a farm, he and his nieces go out visit, and find an intriguing mystery.
Review
Aunt Jane’s nieces continue much in the same vein as before – they’re clever, pert, but also sometimes wrong. In fact, one of the pleasant things about the series is that everyone gets to be wrong some of the time – the clever ones, the pretty ones, the practical ones, and, importantly, the older ones. Baum isn’t afraid to let the wise uncle make as many mistakes as the young nieces do.
On the other hand, you know that good and virtue will always win out in these books, and they do here – in just the kind of happy ending we want and expect. If that means papering over a few things, and taking for granted that good people always recognize good people, well, that’s the way of things.
On the other hand, and not likely in accord with Baum’s intent, I found the nieces a little mean-spirited in one episode toward the end of the book. The man who suffers is clearly a cad, and he’s shown to take it well, but to my mind it didn’t fit the tone of the books. The girls have verged on this kind of cruelty before, but never gone over the edge. In this story, I felt they did, for a piece of humor I didn’t feel was necessary – and there is some very good humor here. It’s a mystery, and, as Baum reminds us, “That’s the way with mysteries; they’re often hard to understand.” There are other little touches that suggest Baum had fun writing this. However, as with the previous book, there’s a casual slur included that no longer reads well – and is somewhat surprising in a writer who’s so clearly progressive in his tendencies.
Overall, an easy, light read, but not quite as effective as the previous books.
Summary
When Uncle John unexpectedly acquires a farm, he and his nieces go out visit, and find an intriguing mystery.
Review
Aunt Jane’s nieces continue much in the same vein as before – they’re clever, pert, but also sometimes wrong. In fact, one of the pleasant things about the series is that everyone gets to be wrong some of the time – the clever ones, the pretty ones, the practical ones, and, importantly, the older ones. Baum isn’t afraid to let the wise uncle make as many mistakes as the young nieces do.
On the other hand, you know that good and virtue will always win out in these books, and they do here – in just the kind of happy ending we want and expect. If that means papering over a few things, and taking for granted that good people always recognize good people, well, that’s the way of things.
On the other hand, and not likely in accord with Baum’s intent, I found the nieces a little mean-spirited in one episode toward the end of the book. The man who suffers is clearly a cad, and he’s shown to take it well, but to my mind it didn’t fit the tone of the books. The girls have verged on this kind of cruelty before, but never gone over the edge. In this story, I felt they did, for a piece of humor I didn’t feel was necessary – and there is some very good humor here. It’s a mystery, and, as Baum reminds us, “That’s the way with mysteries; they’re often hard to understand.” There are other little touches that suggest Baum had fun writing this. However, as with the previous book, there’s a casual slur included that no longer reads well – and is somewhat surprising in a writer who’s so clearly progressive in his tendencies.
Overall, an easy, light read, but not quite as effective as the previous books.
October 4, 2019
This was a brilliant story from beginning to end.
When Uncle John finds he owns a farm by default according to some business events transacted for him, he decides to go off with the nieces to stay for the summer and escape the New York heat. He sent word to the ‘agent’ to order it made liveable. The sleepy town of Millville begins to wake up with interest as furnishings arrive that they had never seen before.
When the house is ready, Uncle John’s entourage arrives. The villagers are amazed! The girls are delighted with the beautiful house and even with the surroundings, though they have been told the land was not fit for farming.
They became interested in the story of the man who had lived there previously. He had been a ship’s captain. Even though he built a very beautiful house for his wife, she was very sad all the time. Eventually she had a son and soon died. That left the man with his servants. At some point later, the Captain and another old man he knew, were together when they had a shock. The Captain collapsed and died and his friend became mad and paralysed in his lower limbs.
All this intrigued the girls suggesting a romantic story. They began to have all sorts of ideas...what if it was murder! They decided to become detectives and began questioning almost everyone about the story. This of course, brought all manner of adventures. One can just imagine a group of young ladies playing at detectives with wild ideas and making a mystery of everything curious they heard about this story that had so caught their interests.
The pace of the story plot, the lighthearted fun and the excitement of the adventures kept me interested to the end. I would definitely recommend the book.
The readers were fine, with the exception of the reading of chapter 13. It was a very poor recording and very difficult to listen to.
When Uncle John finds he owns a farm by default according to some business events transacted for him, he decides to go off with the nieces to stay for the summer and escape the New York heat. He sent word to the ‘agent’ to order it made liveable. The sleepy town of Millville begins to wake up with interest as furnishings arrive that they had never seen before.
When the house is ready, Uncle John’s entourage arrives. The villagers are amazed! The girls are delighted with the beautiful house and even with the surroundings, though they have been told the land was not fit for farming.
They became interested in the story of the man who had lived there previously. He had been a ship’s captain. Even though he built a very beautiful house for his wife, she was very sad all the time. Eventually she had a son and soon died. That left the man with his servants. At some point later, the Captain and another old man he knew, were together when they had a shock. The Captain collapsed and died and his friend became mad and paralysed in his lower limbs.
All this intrigued the girls suggesting a romantic story. They began to have all sorts of ideas...what if it was murder! They decided to become detectives and began questioning almost everyone about the story. This of course, brought all manner of adventures. One can just imagine a group of young ladies playing at detectives with wild ideas and making a mystery of everything curious they heard about this story that had so caught their interests.
The pace of the story plot, the lighthearted fun and the excitement of the adventures kept me interested to the end. I would definitely recommend the book.
The readers were fine, with the exception of the reading of chapter 13. It was a very poor recording and very difficult to listen to.
February 10, 2025
Baum Free #19
Aunt Jane's Nieces #3
Third book in the series about thee young biddies who were nieces to Aunt Jane.
Pretty average fare, one thing it is a fair old way from the land of Oz, so old geezer Frank certainly had a bit of range in his bibliography.
Aunt Jane's Nieces #3
Third book in the series about thee young biddies who were nieces to Aunt Jane.
Pretty average fare, one thing it is a fair old way from the land of Oz, so old geezer Frank certainly had a bit of range in his bibliography.
February 15, 2018
A mystery that turns out not to be a mystery as the three girls spend a summer in the country on a farm.
March 26, 2012
Entertaining, fresh - love these girls. Longer review to follow
October 18, 2012
Another wonderful tale!
March 16, 2015
Pleasant little detective story of three girls vacationing with their wealthy uncle in a small country town. I listened to this as a free download from Librivox.org.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews