The Mystery of Drear House

Virginia Hamilton. The Mystery of Drear House. Greenwillow Books, 1987. 217pp

In concluding her series of stories about the Small family, Virginia Hamilton compliments the original plot perfectly in The Mystery of Drear House. The books dark secrets begin to slowly unveil and are brought to end with a surprising friendship.

The book is again set around the house of Dies Eddington Drear, in a current year. The surrounding property and underground tunnels on premises play major roles in defining the plot and motive for the characters bizarre actions.

The main character in the book was Thomas small; he is a young boy about 12 years old. He is shy and timid but is very mature for his age. He sees things for how they should be, and he often gives too much due to his kind-hearted nature. Thomas best friend is Pesty Darrow a girl his age who lives on the property that borders theirs. The Darrows are a feuding family and believe that there is gold buried on the Small’s land. They feel that it should belong to them and pull many risky stunts to try and find it. Mrs. Darrow is Pestys mother and the key to many secrets of the house and the tunnels that were once apart of the Underground Railroad. Due to her mental illness, she cannot speak and remember things clearly. Thomas’s father has known the location of the gold, and being the good man that he is, arranges for the Darrows to find it. He did this so they could