The Old Cape House

Folks in the town of Eastham on Cape Cod know that the ghost of 16-year-old Maria Hallett haunts the Old Cape House (as if one particular house among all the 164,885 housing units would have the moniker “the Old Cape House” — they’re nearly all old houses on Cape Cod!). The poor girl was allegedly abandoned by her handsome swain, adventurer Samuel Bellamy. Despite this, Paul and Nancy Caldwell abandon Ohio to move to the derelict house with their three children.

What form does this haunting take? Are the Caldwell children affected? Have previous tenants experienced the haunting? Does it turn out, as I imagine, that — as in all soppy, badly written novels — poor Maria was not wronged at all by her beloved, but both were show more victims of some villainy? And what happened to Maria, who opens the book as a pregnant unmarried girl in a prison cell? Was she accused of witchcraft? What became of Sam?

Alas, I will never know because author Barbara Epich Struna took so long to reveal anything of interest that I got bored and abandoned the book. I can’t remember what I spent on this book, but, even if it was 99 cents, I still regret the expense. show less

We stepped back to admire our work and then closed the sliding barn door to the old carriage house, now a country gallery.

The Old Cape House by Barbara Eppich Struna

The Old Cape House is a work of Historical Fiction, taking place in Cape Cod. The book has two stories in one. In current times, Nancy and her family have just relocated to Cape Cod and purchased a beautiful old house that they are also planning to convert into a gallery. Not long after moving in, they stumble upon some items that appear to be quite old, maybe hundreds of years old. The family are slowly pulled into the mystery of the C ape Cod House and events that happened in the Seventeen Hundreds.

The second story is the mystery of the people or person who dwelled in the show more house before..all those years ago.

Way back, Maria Halleck, just a young girl, falls in love with Sam. There is a significant age difference between them and Maria's father orders Sam to stay away from her. They fall in love anyway and Sam leaves to plunder for Gold in the High Seas, promising to come back for his love. Only he doesn't..

Alone and seemingly abandoned, Maria finds she is pregnant. The townspeople are not happy about this and brand Maria as evil. There is a trial held.

I will not say anymore. I thought this book was utterly charming, with breathtaking descriptions of The Cape. If you are reading this and have never been to The Cape, you may not appreciate it to the extent that Fans of Cape Cod do.

I used to vacation in The C ape. I knew the sights and smells since almost before I could walk. As a proud New Englander, I know how unique and special The Cape is and it was delightful to read a work of historical fiction that takes place there.

I was surprised to see many low ratings. I agree the writing was , at times, rather stilted in the conversations. I did not care about that. I could easily imagine this happening and my personal only complaint is that I was so caught up in the Historical story, I really did not care about present time and skimmed much of t hat part. I find this happens in many Historical works that switch back and forth from present to the past.

For me, Maria was such a compelling character, that I rushed through the present, skipping pages, impatiently thumbing through, to get to the past again.

I would recommend The old C ape House to fans of Historical Fiction. It's a beautiful book and makes me want to buy a cottage in Cape Cod. show less

Could be Spoilers. I paid 99 cents. Not recommended.