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Greenglass House
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Wikipedia article
'Greenglass House' is a 2014 novel by American writer Kate Milford. The novel won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children's Novel, and was also nominated for the National Book Award and the Andre Norton Award. The book hit the New York Times Best Seller list.
Plot
The main character is 12 year old Milo Pine. He is the adopted son of inn owners. He lives in Nagspeake, a city, which is known as "smugglers town". Milo lives in the "Greenglass House", which is a huge, dilapidated house. Actions take place during the Christmas holidays. The inn is usually empty at this time, so Milo hopes to get some rest. However, suddenly on the very first night, one after another, five guests are settled in the hotel. Milo believes that the appearance of each of them is not accidental, and their appearance is somehow connected with the Greenglass House itself. Milo is also puzzled by his finding - a fragment of a nautical chart. At one point, Milo meets Maddie, the cook's youngest daughter. The boy befriends Maddie, and together they start a detective role-playing game, the purpose of which is to find out where this map leads, as well as learn more about the guests. They found out that one of the guests enters the rooms of other guests. At first, nothing is lost, but then three guests were robbed at once, and later another guest suffered from the hands of a thief.
Milo's investigation eventually leads him to the conclusion that one of the guests, named De Cary Vinge, is a customs agent. A little later, while telling stories, Vinge confirms this and takes hostage all the guests and Milo's parents. He wants to find the last treasure of Michael "Doc Holystone" Witcher, the famous and now deceased smuggler who formerly owned the house. Milo himself, along with Maddie, manage to escape to the attic, where they lock themselves. Milo suddenly realizes that Maddie is actually a ghost and her real name is Addie Witcher, and she is a daughter of Doc Holystone. Maddie confirms this and reveals that 34 years ago, a young De Cary Vinge was chasing her father, but the latter stumbled and fell off a cliff. Eddie heard this from Vinge himself and leaned forward a little to better hear his speech, but also could not keep her balance and, ultimately, fell and died. Afterwards, Milo and Maddie finally found out where her father hid the last treasure. After a failed attempt to stealthily sneak in on Mr. Vinge, Milo makes a deal - he will show where the treasure is, and Vinge will release the hostages. Vinge agrees and Milo points to a crystal chandelier in the shape of a ship.
It turned out that Holystone's last treasure was a role-playing game figurine that Maddy told Milo about at the beginning of the book, and which they played throughout the novel. Michael brought a figurine for his daughter Eddie. Vinge demands that Milo hand over the figurine, but Milo resists. Then Vinge decides to threaten Milo with a gun. Maddie decides that enough is enough and intimidates Vinge to the point where he first shoots Addie and then runs away in terror. The hostages were released, Milo gave the figurine to Maddie, who introduced herself to all the guests. Also, on another inspection of the chandelier, it turned out that Holystone also hid a sketch of a stained-glass window, which depicted the smuggler himself. Later, the sketch is taken by one of the guests to the university for study.
After the situation was resolved, all the guests left, and only Milo with his family and Maddie remained in the Greenglass House. The latter, saying that now Milo wants to be with his family, says goodbye to Milo and disappears. Milo returns to the house, celebrates Christmas with his parents, and goes to bed.
Reception
The book was received very positively. Betsy Bird from School Library Journal said that Greenglass House is a "great grand book for those kiddos who like reading books that make them feel smart". Also Bird said that she "loves the vocabulary at work here" citing two words: "raconteur" and "puissance".
References
Category:Edgar Award winners
Category:2014 novels
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