Author
Marguerite Aspinwall
1888-1982
Marguerite Aspinwall (1888-1982) is a public-domain author available on Rivro. Read free books, explore subjects, and discover related classics.
Subjects
Books by Marguerite Aspinwall
Gay's year on Sunset Island
"Gay's year on Sunset Island" by Marguerite Aspinwall is a juvenile adventure novel written in the early 20th century. It follows fifteen-year-old Gay Annersley and her close-knit adoptive family as they decamp to a Caribbean island owned by her sea-captain uncle, hoping the climate will restore her ailing uncle’s health. Amid house-restoration, island exploration, and family teamwork, they stumble on clues to a legendary pirate hoard linked to Sir Henry Morgan. The story blends coming-of-age, survival, and treasure-hunt mystery with a strong emphasis on character, courage, and resourcefulness. The opening of the novel finds Gay narrating life in a New England household upended by financial ruin and her Uncle Charles’s breakdown until Uncle Joe arrives with a bold plan: sail south on his schooner, the Myra, to his newly acquired Sunset Island. After a calm voyage, they anchor in a lagoon, reach a long-abandoned planter’s house, and begin repairs; the Myra departs, due to return in two months. A hurricane passes, and wreckage bearing the Myra’s name drifts near the reef, a discovery Gay and Syd quietly fear may mean the ship is lost. The family organizes into indoor and outdoor “teams,” clears paths, plants gardens, and, while sorting an old chest, finds Rosemary Carreau’s 1804 diary describing a copied map to Morgan’s treasure—though the map itself is missing. They set out to circumnavigate the island, camp on the beaches, and take impromptu lessons in stars and shells before Reddy tumbles into a hidden cave complex that could be an ideal pirate cache. They camp in the caves, trade tales of buccaneers, and as night falls Gay wakes to a mysterious sound, leaving the early chapters poised between domestic enterprise and looming adventure.
The sea girl : $b A tale of Nantucket in the clipper ship days
"The sea girl : A tale of Nantucket in the clipper ship days" by Aspinwall is a historical adventure novel written in the early 20th century. Set on pre–Civil War Nantucket, it follows spirited Erica Folger, a captain’s daughter who yearns to go to sea amid clippers and whalers. When her twin cousin Lister disappears in Canton and a powerful Chinese patron enters the picture, the tale points toward a maritime mystery entwined with family loyalty and a young girl’s courage. The opening of the story introduces Erica atop her aunt’s house in October, boldly cutting her hair short and dreaming of the ocean, while her cousins—twins Lister and Tommy—debate which will ship out as a cabin boy. After Tommy wins the chance, Erica entrusts him with a jade seal from her Chinese “godfather,” Sun Li; but a moonlit rescue on the wharf leaves Tommy with a broken leg, and Lister takes the berth instead. Visits with a genial Quaker captain, preparations for the voyage, and Lister’s departure give way to a wintry Christmas season—and the arrival of two orphaned cousins, sullen Milly and sunny little Barbee, who unsettle the household. Through the winter Milly keeps apart while Barbee charms everyone, and the family anxiously awaits the clipper’s return. Then the captain comes back without Lister: the boy vanished in Canton, and Sun Li—revealed as a powerful official—promises a thorough search and swift justice. Erica and Tommy must help break the news to Lister’s mother, and in that moment Milly shows unexpected tenderness.