Maria lives very much within herself and her active imagination. This takes the form of having conversations with inanimate objects like petrol pumps and the tree in the garden of her family's holiday house in Lyme Regis. She also talks to the cat at the house, who is not an inanimate object but one that Maria makes into a rather intimidating character. Her parents, also very self-contained but set in their ways, love her but don't quite know what to make of her. Maria is also a very philosophical child, a deep thinker who spends lots of time in her head. Her highly active imagination can be a solace, but can also get her into trouble emotionally. When the family arrive at the holiday house, they find it to be a wonderful Victorian period piece with lots of heavy furniture and thick curtains, and outside there seems to be the squeaking of a swing and the noise of a small dog barking. While Maria can see neither, she is convinced they are there. In a small element of fantasy, she and her newly acquired friend Martin from next door, find the discarded swing in the garden and put it back into use again, but the dog remains a mystery until the final pages. In meeting the old lady who owns the house, Maria sees a sampler with pictures on it of the house, the swing and a small dog, and the lady tells her something about the family and the little girl who made the sampler. This is Harriet, and as there are no pictures of Harriet as an adult, Maria becomes convinced that Harriet has died in some sort of terrible accident due to the regular cliff falls in the Lyme Regis area. She and Martin become fascinated with the ammonites that they regularly find, and his noisy, chaotic, numerous family begin to bring Maria out of herself. Did Harriet die? And what happened to the dog? And does Maria learn anything from her wonderful holiday by the sea? All will become clear in this gently humorous, delightful story about a wonderful little girl whom we come to love. A well-deserved classic.