"With kitchen privileges."
(Non-Circulating)

The novel is set in the Boston area in the early 1950s. After she suffers a heart attack, Mrs. Appleyard, an elderly New England widow, is persuaded to rent out part of her historic house to young married couples as a way of not being all alone. This brings her into contact with a whole new slice of society, that of young Harvard researchers and their working wives. Some of them are delightful, and others shock her by their ill manners, poor childrearing methods and appalling culinary habits. Apart from her renters, she takes a keen interest in the private lives of her Mayflower descendant neighbors. Why is selfish old Mrs. Clinton so taken with the strange astronomy professor who believes Martians are living among us? When will her nurse, Jane, be cured from the malaria she contracted as a prisoner of war during WWII? Will anyone ever notice that Harriet Ballard is not just a fine cook, but also a lovely girl? In the end, all is resolved in the most satisfactory fashion : troublesome people depart, well-matched couples are formed, and no less than 3 babies are born. The Appendix to the book contains quaintly old-fashioned recipes for the dishes that are mentioned in the book.