The Wishing-Ring Man

There are a few books like this that I've enjoyed very much, and I knew there had to be more somewhere! I'm glad to have found this one. It is sort of a sequel to The Rose-Garden Husband, that is to say, Phyllis & Allan play a pretty big part in it, though not the starring roles. This book is about their friend who was introduced in The Rose-Garden Husband: Dr. John Hewitt. The new character is Joy Havenith, a 19-year-old girl who lives with her grandparents and has been extremely sheltered her whole life. Her grandfather is a famous poet, and he dresses her in costumes so that she can serve as his muse, and requires her to live for nothing but his poetry and his literary parties and so forth. It's odd. She develops a desire to live show more more of a normal life and spend time with ordinary people her own age. Eventually she makes friends with Phyllis & Allan. They invite her to spend a month at their home, but her grandfather refuses to let her go. The only way he would ever let her out of his sight, he says, is if she was engaged. (He thinks this will never happen.) Out of desperation, Joy blurts out the name of the only young man she has ever really met (and she only talked with him for a few moments, but he was kind to her): John Hewitt. Surely they will never meet again...surely she will never have to face the consequences!
This ploy actually works, and she gets to spend the month with her wonderful friends. But John Hewitt almost immediately shows up, and the rest of the story goes from there.
It's a very sweet story. Not original--I'm afraid the plot is rather predictable! But I don't mind. Comparing it with some of my other favorite early-20th-century books, it's very, very well written. Occasionally funny, easy to get lost in but not overly intense. I will definitely be checking out more of Margaret Widdemer's books. show less

I love books like this. The plot is somewhat predictable but I didn't mind. Joy is simply adorable, and John is great character as well. Phyllis and Allan of [b:The Rose-Garden Husband|8042424|The Rose-Garden Husband|Margaret Widdemer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327985424s/8042424.jpg|12674175] are supporting characters. At one point, they all put on an amateur performance of [b:Iolanthe|5475135|Iolanthe|W.S. Gilbert|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327919217s/5475135.jpg|5542776], which made me very happy.

Joy's poet grandfather is a satiric character, which is interesting considering Margaret Widdemer was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet herself.