Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Merry Skiffe, who lives on Martha's Vineyard in the 1880s, runs away from home because she is suspected of having committed a murder
Reviews
Grade 5-9?This fast-paced crime story is also a fictionalized account of the community of Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, in 1880, where an extraordinary number of people were born Deaf. Virtually every resident, hearing or Deaf, knew sign language. Merry Skiffe, 12, who is Deaf, is a suspect in the murder of another islander. After some dismal insights into the victim's cruel nature (especially his penchant for propositioning young girls), numerous false accusations, and more plot twists than a tiny island should have to bear, Merry is able to clear her name and return to her family. Translating the unique grammar of sign language into English text can be problematic, but it is handled well here. The use of tildes instead of quotation marks indicates conversations in sign language, with remarks made by hearing signers enclosed in quotes and tildes. Though this is distracting at first, by the time readers are a chapter into the story it seems a natural way to approach the issue. The book has some minor failings, such as Merry reminiscing about her school days, which interrupts her tense, exciting flight from the law. However, her anguish and fear are palpable, and Neufeld shows again his wonderful gift for creating sympathetic and utterly believable characters. He has once again proven himself an unflinching student of the human heart, and has illuminated a revealing aspect of American history. In Gaps in Stone Walls, he reminds readers that their ideas about "handicaps" are often as arbitrary and groundless as the claims of Merry's guilt.?Jennifer Fleming, Boston Public Library
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A curious historical fact lends color to Neufeld's (Lisa, Bright and Dark; Almost a Hero) carefully researched if uneven novel: in the late 19th century, hereditary deafness affected at least one-fifth of the population of Chilmark, a town on Martha's Vineyard. Among this group is Merry Skiffe, an artistic 12-year-old whose peaceful life unravels when wealthy miser Ned Nickerson is murdered on a dark road one Saturday night and Merry finds herself among the four residents of Chilmark who have no alibi. Terrified of bringing shame on her family, the girl runs away from home, scheming to escape from the island with her eloping cousin. Merry's smoothly integrated reveries provide flashbacks that give impressive dimension to her resourcefulness in coping with her deafness. Neufeld's treatment of the murder mystery, however, is somewhat unsettling. Merry and the villagers view Nickerson as so base that he deserved to die, an impression corrobated by the author when he reveals the killer's identity only to readers and not to the other characters, allowing him to get away with his crime. Pacing, too, is problematic, with much of the novel's action unfolding as a repetitious, laborious chronicle of Merry's furtive journey across the countryside. On the other hand, Neufeld evokes the terrain she covers so vividly that readers may feel as though they are following closely behind the plucky heroine-darting through rolling pastures, creeping along stone walls and breathing in the salty air. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
An often enthralling, not entirely satisfying, mystery, set in Martha's Vineyard in 1880, a closed community where deafness is commonplace. Neufeld (Almost a Hero, 1995, etc.) never closes the credibility gaps in this story of an unlikely murder suspect. Readers meet Merry Skiffe, 12, on the run after learning that she's one of only four people on the island without an alibi at the time of the murder of Ned Nickerson, a dishonest, dissolute man who is hated by all. Merry's extreme fear of the law is supposedly explained by her having once rebuffed Nickerson's improper advances, but that's hardly reason enough for others to believe her capable of murder. The revelation of the real culprit--who's about to elope with Merry's deaf cousin--may come as a surprise to some, but the readers who will like this best will be those with an interest in Martha's Vineyard and the historical details Neufeld deftly works into the plot. (bibliograpy) (Fiction. 10-14) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Gr. 6^-8. In this sharply accurate historical novel set in 1880 on Martha's Vineyard, 12-year-old Merry Skiffe, who is deaf, is one of four people suspected of murdering Ned Nickerson, a wealthy islander whom Merry despised because he made advances to her. Like a country squire, Nickerson flaunted his wealth and pilfered his neighbor's farm animals, making himself generally unpopular. As Merry schemes to leave the island, her family and her friend Simon try to vindicate her. The novel excels in its sense of place and strong characterizations, but the story loses power and coherence when it oddly switches focus to the boyfriend of Merry's cousin and the murder remains unresolved for everyone but the reader. Shelley Townsend-Hudson
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