Jeptha and the New People
Marguerite Vance
Paperback
(Wildside Press, April 25, 2017)
Ever since his father had been lost at sea, Jeptha Brewster had gradually accepted the changes in his life. Then one day Jeptha read a notice in the weekly paper: "The former Samuel Custer residence on Route 1, Janesville Beach, has been leased by Miss Beatrice Pomeroy of New York and London." Jeptha was overcome with curiosity about the "new people." He'd heard they were a mad housesold with a rather strange boy about Jeptha's age, Indian servants, and a chained cheetah, of all things! These unusual people captured his imagination and broadened his viewpoint. He discoverd in John a friend with loyalty to match his own. And between them they worked out a wonderful solution for two familites who had faced tragedy and learned to rise above it. A classic children's book by Marguerite Vance, originally published in 1960. "Jeptha, a nice little boy, though lonely since his father's death, is not quite prepared for the strange group which rents the house near his family in Maine Besides John, a boy his age, with an English accent, there is a staff of servants, a beautiful actress, and a cheetah. Jeptha's involvement with the family finally leads to a marriage between his mother and John's father which promises to perpetuate the colorful and compassionate relationship between the two boys and the docile animal. Marguerite Vance captures the fascination a lonely child might feel for novel and glamorous strangers in this cheerful and tender story." -- Kirkus
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