The Secret Spring: a Mystery Romance for Young People, by Emma Atkins Jacobs

The past few days have been rather harrowing, and I needed something soothing and mindless to read, that came with no obligation or expectation.  I picked The Secret Spring: a Mystery Romance for Young People, by Emma Atkins Jacobs (1944) off my to-be-read pile; I picked it up from my local used bookstore a few months ago, and thought it looked undemanding.

And indeed, it made no demands (except on my credulity) and actually proved more enjoyable than I thought it would.

The spring in the title isn't the season, but a hardware type spring in an old trunk, that our heroine, 16-year old Laurel, impulsively buys at an auction, and what's in the trunk when the secret spring is secret no more is what sparks the mystery, such as it is (not much--two strangers are much too interested in the trunk).  Indeed, though the book advertises itself as a mystery romance, it's really about a shy girl in a musical family who are on tour for the summer in the Chautauqua circuit, who pushes herself to step past her shyness and work on talking to people.  It's a pleasure to see her succeed, and I felt like I picked up some useful tips. She does get a romance, but (surprise!) not one built on realistic friendship.

What I found most unrealistic though is that Laurel (in, I think, 1905) could find in the old trunk a wedding dress at least thirty years old and wear it to perform in without trying it on first to make sure it fits and it does fit perfectly.  The cover suggests she tries it on, but I really don't think she ever does until the big night....also how could that dress be fit into that trunk along with a bunch of other stuff without being mangled to death?

I really enjoyed the Chautauqua setting--I knew nothing about this going in, and it was pretty interesting, with lots of details about the folks in the audience, and the different lectures and performances.  There were lots of small domestic details too, like all the ironing that had to be done by Laurel and her mother....

I also thought it was appropriate that I was reading this on the D-Day anniversary, because it's a wartime book.  Here's the back of the book:

which then sets my mind wondering if there are any books about high school victory chorus members....I would read those books.

And here's the inside back flap:

Perhaps if the publisher hadn't splurged on including a full page reproduction of the cover opposite the title page, we'd have won the war faster.

as an added bonus, the book came with the January 1945 edition of "Young Wings: the Book Club Magazine for Young Americans."   It was fascinating reading, almost like reading a blog.... Llamas were big in 1945.