Product Description

Living in terrible isolation with her large family, sixteen-year-old Pilbeam throws them all into danger when she cannot bear it any more and ventures out, prompting Sir Magnus to condemn them all to life indoors. Reprint. AB. C. PW. NYT.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #440165 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.com Review
The third book in the Waugh's Mennyms about a most unusual family of ageless rag-dolls that are both alien and eerily human. From their house at Number 5 Brocklehurst Lane, Appleby, Philbeam, Sir. Magnus, Soobie (the only blue Mennym) and the rest conduct their isolated routines designed to mimic the human lives they can have no contact with lest their secret be discovered. Here, they face their biggest challenge to date. A remarkable book that will delight both young and adult readers.

From Publishers Weekly
The family of life-sized rag dolls scrambles to evade the meddlings of their curious neighbors in this third Mennyms novel, which PW called "another well-wrought fantasy." Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-8?This third installment in the rag-doll family saga tackles some tough questions about religion, the afterlife, and dating. The story begins with teenaged Pilbeam deciding she must go to the theater. The outing leads to trouble from a nosy (human) neighbor, and Sir Magnus, the family patriarch, declares a state of emergency. The situation worsens, and the rebellious Appleby, Pilbeam's sister, drags them all to the brink of disaster by opening a forbidden attic door. The Mennyms then turn into statues, and it takes divine intervention, in the form of the ghost of their creator, Kate Penshaw, to get it closed again. Appleby dies during the effort and the Mennyms must come to grips with this newest change in their lives. The book ends with life's milestones being reflected in the goings-on of the neighbors. Growing up, the consequences of forbidden action, and the grief of death are things that every family must endure, and if not for the fact that the Mennyms are dolls, this would be nothing more than a slice-of-life story about a family of paranoids. Waugh has created characters of depth and distinction, and she has a good ear for dialogue. Even so, the pace is tedious and the plot ponderously flat until the last 50 or so pages, when Appleby discovers the door. It seems likely that only diehard fans will want to plow through this story. Buy where there is a demand for Mennym shenanigans.?Patricia A. Dollisch, DeKalb County Public Library, Decatur, GA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant and Creepy
I'm not sure if these should be classified as books for "young readers"; then again, they probably baffle most adults as well. I read them on Edward Gorey's recommendation, and they are as strange as he said they were. Recommended for all who desire an unearthly family novel.

touching, chilling, shocking, startling.....MENNYMS.
M is for magical; for a magical magical book

E is for excited; so excited to take a look

M is for me; the great reviewer i will be

M is for masterful; sylvia waugh is as an author you can see

Y is for y?; why not read this book

M is for move; get a move on and take a look!

that's the end of my review

i hope that it helped you...

Pulled apart from within
It's always a puzzle how to classify the Mennyms series--the basic premise sounds light & childlike (a family of living, breathing rag dolls) but the tone is actually quite dark: a very realistic portrait of the internal politics of family life, with a gentle Christian-flavoured supernaturalism. Somehow, even though the Mennyms family has lived for 40 years, hiding themselves away from the external, human world, the impression one gets from every volume in the series is of a very fragile stasis--indeed, every book deals with a crisis in the family's life. In books 1 and 2 (_The Mennyms_ and _Mennyms in the Wilderness_) that stasis is restored by the end, though not without a sense of conflicting gain & loss (in book 2, for instance, there's the doomed love between Pilbeam & the only human being they ever let themselves become friendly with, Albert Pond). In book 3 the stasis is finally shattered (though I won't give away the details--part of the pleasure of these books is the way that the leisurely plotting can suddenly yield to major turns of event without much warning). The Mennyms' self-protective secrecy curdles into paranoia in the mind of Sir Magnus, the rather pompous head of the household, and despite the efforts of his daughter-in-law Vinetta to counter his increasingly draconian measures, he gradually forces the rest of the Mennyms to stay under virtual house arrest. The teenagers Soobie, Pilbeam and Appleby increasingly chafe under these restrictions, and this eventually leads to near-disaster (it turns out there _is_ a secret exit to the house...... but where does it go?).

I've read this 3 times & always found it almost unbearably sad in its final chapters, which deal with an unexpected death. I hesitated for quite some time to try reading it aloud to my daughter (now nearly 10) but eventually decided she was ready for it. Oddly enough, she handled it quite well; I think maybe the book's serious discussions of pain & healing only really bear their full weight & wisdom for an older reader. (As with earlier volumes, there's also a curious echo of _Blade Runner_ and _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ in Waugh's meticulous working-out of the implication of the idea of "embedded" or "implanted" memory. & in many ways the books demand to be read not beside fantasy or children's fiction but beside science fiction, for they are asking some of the same questions: what is it to be human? can inanimate things like robots or dolls gain true consciousness? can they die?) -- For the younger reader, this is simply another enjoyable addition to the Mennyms series, & if they're hooked on the first two books then this one is essential reading. There are only two more books after this, which are essentially a prolonged coda to this one, working out the implications of the idea that a doll, too, can die.