Pseudo-Victorian Gothic joyriding

While looking for another book to start last night I noticed that I had a few Edward Gorey (or at least Gorey-illustrated) books on my TBR shelf instead of over where all the other Edward Gorey books are, and I figured that one would be about the right length that I could read the whole thing while feeding the cats. So I picked up The Willowdale Handcar, which did in fact take me almost exactly 15 minutes to read.

 

This story concerns three friends--I assume they are friends; they are hanging out together--named Edna, Harry, and Sam, who find a handcar at the railroad station in Willowdale and decide to ride it around to other towns, seeing whatever they can see. Most of what they see is random, rather boring stuff, touched up with that very dry Gorey sense of whimsical absurdity, such as visiting a man with a collection of telephone pole insulators. A handful of events hint at another, much more exciting story, involving Edna's friend Nellie, her beau Dick, a friend of Dick's who is driving around frantically, and a financier named Titus W. Blotter, and an abandoned baby that looks like Nellie. The three traveling friends never quite figure out what the story there is, even when they rescue Nellie from being tied to the train tracks, and neither does the reader.

 

The book is subtitled The Return of the Black Doll, which... doesn't feature in the story at all. It is pictured on the cover and in one illustration. It is never mentioned in the text. These are the sort of odd little things you get when you read Gorey books. 

 

I am also reminded that I have lived in Massachusetts since 2006 and have not yet been to the Gorey House. Who wants to organize a day trip with me before Cape season kicks off too much?