Instead, I enjoyed the details of the tiny gifts Maria attempts to give the People, and the huge gifts they try to give her, and the adventure aspects. At the time I was aware of Lilliputians, but I had never read Gulliver's Travels. I first read this book as a ten year old. Can Maria save them? and can they, in turn, save her? However, Miss Brown discovers Maria's midnight adventures to the island, and plots with the Vicar to sell the People to circuses. At first she treats them like playthings, desperate to own them as she owns nothing else, but the Professor helps her to see them as people worthy of respect. One summer's day she takes a leaking punt out on the ornamental lake in the grounds of the house, and on an artificial island, in a Folly (the Mistress Masham's Repose of the title), she discovers a community of Lilliputians, the People. With a venal Vicar as her Guardian and a horrible governess, Maria lives in a corner of her practically ruined stately home, with only the cook, Mrs Noakes, and an absent minded Professor as her friends. One summer afternoon she discovers a population of Lilliputians living on an artificial island on her ornamental lake. Summary: Orphan Maria lives in her practically ruined stately home, with her horrible governess Miss Brown.
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