The Perrely Plight

by Peter John Stephens, R.D. Rice (Drawings)

Gib is twelve and finally able to ride Marybell down to the fields to take the workers lunch but he would have to ride through the Hollow...alone.

1836 Sturbridge, Massachusetts seems a placid community; its one odd aspect is the octracism of the Perrely family by the villages. The calm is disturbed when young Gib Martindale disobeys father's orders, makes friends with the Perrely daughter and stalks her elusive brother.

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this on a whim when in America because the art was so lovely, but turns out it’s a minor classic. Written, surprisingly, by a British author it’s set in Massachusetts in 1836 and manages to hide quite well an old fashioned morality play under the trappings of a mystery. Stephens is less interested in that mystery - although it’s very satisfying and at least bothers to have a few suspects which is more than the Ellery Queen Jr book could manage - than getting his readers to think about some quite big ideas. It’s about dry religiosity contrasted against applying actual biblical principles in daily life. It’s about prejudice and the importance of thinking the best of everyone. It’s all very traditional in those ideas, but Stephens manages to get away with it by making his characters very engaging - even the more bigoted and prejudicial characters have moments of soul searching where they see the error of their ways. It’s a surprisingly subtle book, so while it’s in essence a fairly conventional young adult mystery story the bigger ideas never overwhelm it and you never feel lectured to. And the art is really sublime

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book a quick read
reminded me of something I would have read when I was younger.