Return to Gone-Away

The Blake children can barely contain their excitement when their parents announce that the crumbling Villa Caprice, a long‑abandoned mansion perched near the mysterious Gone‑Away Lake, is now theirs. Portia, eleven, and her younger brother Foster immediately begin planning which rooms to claim, while their loyal boxer Gulliver adds his own enthusiastic commentary. The house, untouched for over half a century, is a treasure trove of hidden cupboards, dusty books and forgotten curiosities waiting to be explored.

Beyond the villa lies the strange, swamp‑filled world of Gone‑Away Lake, a place the siblings discovered the previous summer. The area is dotted with overgrown boathouses, a dangerous bog called the Gulper, and the solitary island of Craneycrow, all watched over by the eccentric siblings Mrs. Minnehaha Cheever and Mr. Pindar Payton. As the Blakes settle in, the children’s curiosity pulls them deeper into the forgotten settlement, promising new adventures among the whispering reeds and secret passages of a place that seems frozen in time.