
Patty spends a lazy March afternoon in her sun‑filled study, surrounded by yellow daffodils, chintz‑covered furniture and a crackling fire. She is engrossed in a tiny, plain‑covered book that seems to pose riddles about headless men and mythical bookworms, and she can’t shake the feeling that the answers hide something important. As the clock nears four, her lively stepmother Nan bursts in, pulling Patty away from her puzzling reverie and urging her to join a gathering.
Dressed in a delicate white chiffon frock, Patty glides through Nan’s reception, greeting society friends with effortless charm while her own circle of youthful companions slips away to the library. There, amid whispered jokes and the clink of tea cups, the enigmatic questions from the little book linger in her mind, promising a curious adventure beyond the polished drawing‑room. Listeners will follow Patty’s bright wit and the gentle tug of mystery as she balances social expectations with a hunger for clever solutions.
Language
en
Duration
~4 hours (284K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net from page images generously made available by The HathiTrust Digital Library (https://www.hathitrust.org/)
Release date
2016-09-02
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1862–1942
Best known for witty verse, lively children’s books, and clever mystery stories, this remarkably prolific American writer published more than 170 books. Her work ranged from nonsense rhymes to detective fiction, all marked by a playful style and an obvious love of words.
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