A Gift for Miss Milo - Hardcover

Wahl, Jan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0898153395 ISBN 13: 9780898153392

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, 1990

Synopsis

An old woman waits for the man who would have been her bridegroom if he hadn't vanished into another dimension

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Mattie Sprunk, a young girl, treasures the memories of Miss Milo, who on her wedding day long ago was jilted at the altar. Miss Milo bore no grudge against her fiance because she was convinced that he had unwittingly entered another dimension and would return at any moment. Her life centered upon being perpetually prepared for this event with everything kept in readiness for his imminent reappearance. Even after Miss Milo's death, Mattie willingly (and for a small fee) makes up the four-poster bed with clean sheets according to Miss Milo's wishes. Mattie surveys this blighted love affair from a romantic point of view in total sympathy with the forebearing Miss Milo. Readers, however, may observe Miss Milo's obsession less charitably. They may find their sympathy wearing thin for Miss Milo's pathetic inability to deal with reality and get on with her life. Feminists will be particularly turned off. However, the illustrations are intriguing. The artist, using a technique of pointillism, succeeds in creating a hazy, otherworldlike effect that aptly reflects the detached mood of the story. --Phyllis G. Sidorsky, National Cathedral School, Washington, DC
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Poor Lavesta Margaret Milo. Just like Charles Dickens's Miss Havisham, this lady was left at the altar on her wedding day. The folks in town say Miss Milo is crazy; they don't believe for a minute her claims that handsome Charley Fender has disappeared into another dimension. But Mattie Sprunk knows better: Mattie's grandmother was Miss Milo's best friend--some say her only friend--and this determined youngster is going to honor Miss Milo's memory no matter what. Readers meet Mattie as she brings to Miss Milo's abandoned house clean sheets (Mattie has even skipped a meeting of the Knickerbocker Twinkies) "for her special bed which she never slept in." With haunting prose and an aura of old-fashioned mystery, Wahl's voice becomes Mattie's, as she spins this captivating tale of love and betrayal, of reality and illusion. It's hard to believe that the splendid paintings mark Grove's book debut: using a pointillist technique, he imbues his atmospheric artwork with a fragile beauty that suits the narrative as perfectly as one of Lavesta's kid gloves. All ages.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0898153395
• ISBN 13: 9780898153392
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 60
• Illustrator: Grove Jeff