Thanks to loving but over-protective guardian aunts, Elizabeth Ann is a fearful, self-absorbed, nine-year-old hypochondriac. Most terrible on her list of fears is "those horrid Putney, Vermont cousins" at whose very mention her aunts shudder. When the aunts are suddenly no longer able to care for her, she is, incredibly, sent to live with those very cousins.
Arriving in Vermont, she is immediately invited by Uncle Henry to drive the carriage. Steering the fearsome horses begins her adventures in New England—and her independence. Rules at the comfortable farmhouse are relaxed. Aunt Abigail serves baked beans in the kitchen, Elizabeth Ann—now Betsy—must wash her own dishes and is expected to walk to school alone.
Gradually Betsy comes to enjoy the "queer Putney ways" of her country cousins, not realizing that they are teaching her to think for herself. When the aunts write inviting her to return, Betsy must make a difficult choice.
Did you find this review helpful?