Happy House

Really charming -- great characterizations and a lovely story that moves right along. Two college chums, both named Anne Leavitt, have just graduated when a letter comes inviting one to visit a long lost, elderly maiden aunt, who has reluctantly decided to end a longstanding family feud. But whose aunt is it? The likeliest candidate already has summer plans, so the other goes in her stead, bringing light and youth into a staid, grim household, but as time goes on, she becomes fond of the people and place and feel increasingly guilty about her deception -- not least because of a young man she comes to know. Toward the end, the transformations Anne works and the coincidences around her start to pile up unbelievably, but it's lovely reading anyway.