Eleven-year-old Maud is perhaps the least likely child to be adopted from the Barbary Asylum for female orphans, particularly on a day when she was locked in an outhouse as a punishment for one of her many transgressions. And the elderly Hawthorne sisters are perhaps the least likely adoptive parents. But Maud is indeed adopted, and is glad to be part of a real family, even though she doesn’t quite understand why the sisters insist on keeping her existence a secret. Maud soon discovers that they are fraudulent spiritualists who plan to use her as a means to trick a despondent, wealthy woman who has just lost her only daughter. Maud is to play the ghost of the dead girl. Young readers will get completely caught up in both the eerily mysterious aspects of this engaging gothic novel and Maud’s moral dilemma. The ending is predictable—at least to adults—but wholly satisfying. (Ages 9–12)

"People throw the word 'classic' about a lot, but A DROWNED MAIDEN'S HAIR genuinely deserves to become one." — WALL STREET JOURNAL

Maud Flynn is known at the orphanage for her impertinence. So when the charming Miss Hyacinth chooses her to take home, the girl is pleased but baffled, until it becomes clear that she’s needed to help stage elaborate séances for bereaved patrons. As Maud is drawn deeper into the deception, playing her role as a "secret child," she is torn between her need to please and her growing conscience —- until a shocking betrayal shows just how heartless her so-called guardians are. Filled with fascinating details of turn-of-the-century spiritualism and page-turning suspense, this lively novel features a feisty heroine whom readers will not soon forget.