This was a weird story. sweet, somehow, but weird, and sad, too. ( )

I've strayed back into the Frances Hodgson Brunett LibriVox wormhole and found this short story/novella. I started out thinking it was simply odd (the way The Dawn of a To-morrow was) but it took a truly creepy turn and was one the eeriest ghost stories I have have read in quite some time.

A novelette originally released as a super-fancy standalone book, In the Closed Room is more Burnett creepiness along the lines of her later The White People. In the Closed Room is more effective, though I think it still moves a little bit too slow. I think I'd better not say much more about it; I suspect my enjoyment was diminished by knowing about the ending before I began reading.

Fair Warning: one of those stars is for the physical beauty of my copy, of which I'll write more later. Frances Hodgson Burnett was the topic of my term paper for my History of Children's Literature Class, so I was allowed to read my library school's copies of her books. It was my introduction to Ms. Burnett's works besides Little Lord Fauntleroy, A Little Princess, and The Secret Garden.

Our heroine is seven year-old Judith Foster, who lives in a small flat (apartment) in a workingmen's building near the elevated railroad in New York City. Her hearty and healthy parents are Jem Foster, mechanic, and his wife, Jane. Jane has a sewing machine in the flat and makes men's coats on it. Judith loves her parents and they love her, but she's not like them. Jane had an older sister who died before she was born. From what she heard about Hester, Jane suspects her frail daughter takes after her late aunt. Judith hasn't told her parents that she dreams about the aunt she never met, just as she doesn't tell them that she dreamed about a rich little girl she saw in the Park [Central Park?] months ago. The girl wants Judith to play with her.

This story takes place before electric fans were available for the masses, let alone air-conditioners. Poor Mrs. Foster is having to fan herself with a newspaper as the summer gets hotter. Then Jem gets a lucky break: a summer job as a caretaker for a mansion near the Park.

The house is beautiful. It'll be Mrs. Foster's job to keep it tidy -- except for one fourth-floor room that's been locked. The owners, the Haldons, left so suddenly that the house hasn't been prepared for a summer closing.

How Judith manages to enter the closed room isn't explained, but the girl who wanted to play with her is there. They play together daily. Judith can't understand why the beautiful flowers from the roof garden that she made into a wreath died as soon as she left. It is a mystery, like the reason her playmate mustn't be touched.

Although the reader will probably have figured things out long before the mystery is solved, it's still a dear little story.

I had to have this edition for the Jessie Wilcox Smith illustrations. The pages, except for the backs of the illos, are decorated with a green line border with green leaves in the corners and blossoms like the gold stamped border around the title on the cover. The decoration is extended to the title and under the page numbers on the pages. If you've seen an e-copy and are wondering how the publisher managed to stretch the story to cover pp. 3-130, the answer is wide margins. Not counting the title and page numbers, the text takes up only a little over 3 & 1/2 by 2 & 1/2 inches per page.

If my description of the original edition makes you wish you had a copy like it, there is a print-on-demand reprint of this edition available. I hope it's as beautiful as my copy because I don't want other Burnett fans to miss out. ( )