The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

This one came recommended to me by my mum and one of her co-workers, and I thought it would be a good read to follow up One Hundred Years of Solitude. And it was! It’s a light, sweet, children’s book about a family of four sisters and their father who go on a family vacation. They’ve rented a cottage, sight unseen, and what they don’t realize is that the cottage is situated on the grand and beautiful estate Arundel. The book tells of the adventures the sisters have on their summer holiday.

If I didn’t know that the book was written in 2005, I might have thought that it was a lost work of Edith Nesbit or Edgar Eager, (whose books I loved as a child) without the magic. Overall, I found that it was a lovely book!

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall

The sequel to The Penderwicks. I liked it because I missed the characters from the first book but overall I preferred the first book. The sequel just didn’t have the same element of old-fashioned charm. However, Birdsall’s characters are consistent from the first book to the second, so it was still an enjoyable read.