Summary
Summary of Molly Brown's Senior Days
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A final year opens new questions
Molly Brown begins her last year at Wellington College surrounded by close friends, familiar rooms and the knowledge that their time together is ending. A warm Kentucky girl who loves to write, she doubts whether writing can become her future. She also cares deeply about the good opinion of Professor Green, who is ill.
The year promises mischief, mysteries and a grand birthday festival for the college. Beneath those events lies Molly's quieter concern: finding a life beyond college without losing the friendships that have shaped her.
Key idea 2
Illness puts Molly at a distance
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Key idea 3
A new friendship unsettles the group
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Key idea 4
Hostility gives way to gratitude
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Key idea 5
Natural writing reveals a possible future
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Key idea 6
Loyalty survives Judy's reckless choice
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Key idea 7
A familiar pastry becomes a clue
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Key idea 8
Small objects carry the larger questions
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Key idea 9
Quiet courage holds friendship together
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
You will enjoy this if you love school and college stories, close circles of friends, warm humor, small mysteries on a campus, and heroines who find their voice step by step.
What this book is
Molly Brown's Senior Days is a college novel by Nell Speed, the fourth book in the Molly Brown series. It follows Molly and her close friends through their last year at Wellington College, a women's college with a quadrangle, cloisters and a lake. You meet Molly, a warm and thoughtful Kentucky girl who loves to write but fears she cannot, and her friends Judy, Nance, Margaret, Edith, Jessie and Otoyo.
The year brings a stolen picnic lunch, a rival speaker who never arrives, a new friend who spreads trouble, a ghost on the campus and a grand May festival for the college's fiftieth birthday. Under it all runs a quiet question: what will Molly do with her life when college ends? Professor Green, who teaches English, is ill, and Molly cares for his good opinion more than she says. The book gives you friendship, mischief and gentle romance in a closed world of gates, teas and midnight scrapes. Let us begin with the opening night in No. 5 Quadrangle.
In this summary
- 1The Old Crowd Returns to WellingtonFree
- 2A Sick Professor and a Strange Debt
- 3Adele Windsor Enters the Circle
- 4The Stolen Lunch and the Man Who Came Instead
- 5Molly Finds a Pen and a Possible Path
- 6Judy Goes Too Far
- 7Snakey-Noodles and the Showdown
- 8What the Story Is Really About
- 9How the Story Is Told
Key point 1 of 9
The Old Crowd Returns to Wellington
The book opens on the first night of term in No. 5 Quadrangle. Molly stands at the window and wonders how the old crowd will bear to part after four years. Judy strums a guitar, and Nance arranges books on new shelves. Soon the others arrive: Margaret, Jessie, the Williams sisters and little Otoyo Sen, who glides in on soft slippers.
The girls tease Jessie about two rings on her finger. Otoyo then announces that Wellington will hold a jubilee for its fiftieth birthday. Her news comes from Andy McLean, a young man at nearby Exmoor College.
The happy mood is cut short by bad news. Professor Edwin Green, who teaches English literature, lies in the infirmary with typhoid. Molly had planned to ask his advice the next day on a private worry, which is how to avoid becoming a schoolteacher.
Judy dreams up an old English pageant for the jubilee, then feels ashamed when Molly seems pale. She runs to the infirmary to ask how the Professor is. The night nurse says he is very ill but that Dr. McLean is hopeful. This opening sets up the main threads: friendship, the jubilee, and Molly's search for a future.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
What helps Molly write a successful newspaper article?
Right. “She writes it as if it were a letter to her mother, and it is accepted.”Not quite. “She writes it as if it were a letter to her mother, and it is accepted.”
How does Molly support Judy after her suspension?
Right. “Judy is suspended, but Molly arranges for her to board in the village and study with the help of her friends until midyear.”Not quite. “Judy is suspended, but Molly arranges for her to board in the village and study with the help of her friends until midyear.”
How does Adele cause harm within the group?
Right. “Adele is clever and glamorous, and her harm comes through hints, not open attack.”Not quite. “Adele is clever and glamorous, and her harm comes through hints, not open attack.”
Questions about Molly Brown's Senior Days
What is Molly Brown's Senior Days about?
It follows Molly Brown and her friends through their final year at Wellington College. Pranks, a visiting reporter, a troublemaking student and a campus ghost fill the year, while Molly wonders what to do after graduation.
Who is Adele Windsor in Molly Brown's Senior Days?
Adele is a stylish New York student whom Judy befriends. She is clever and charming, but she uses flattery and hints to cause trouble among the friends, and Molly distrusts her.
What does snakey-noodles mean in the book?
Snakey-noodles is a family name for a coiled pastry with raisins and cinnamon made by the Browns' cook. The word becomes a clue that helps Molly face a rival with quiet confidence.
Is Molly Brown's Senior Days part of a series?
Yes. It is one book in the Molly Brown series by Nell Speed, which follows Molly from her first days at Wellington College. It can still be enjoyed on its own as a story of friendship.
Is Molly Brown's Senior Days easy to read?
The chapters are short, the dialogue is lively and each friend has a distinct voice. Scenes such as the picnic, the canoe rescue and the rope ladder make it easy to follow.
