Summary
Summary of Polly's Business Venture
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Polly keeps her plans her own
Polly Brewster is returning from Europe with a clear ambition: to make a career in decorating. On the ship, a wireless message from Tom Latimer brings teasing from her friends. Tom writes like a brother, but he is quietly in love with her, and Polly keeps his message private.
Eleanor, unwilling to miss the fun, arranges a pretend message of her own. These small schemes introduce a circle of affectionate friends, while Polly's guarded response shows how carefully she protects both her feelings and her future.
Key idea 2
A rescue does not settle romance
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Key idea 3
Trouble reaches back to the mountains
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Key idea 4
A trained eye finds hidden value
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Key idea 5
A dusty print deserves another look
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Key idea 6
Family loss gives work new urgency
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Key idea 7
Good bargains still raise moral questions
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Key idea 8
Work deserves room beside love
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Key idea 9
Objects reveal values and personal choices
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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
Readers who love antiques, old houses and country auctions, who enjoy warm friendships and comic misunderstandings, and who like a young heroine with a head for business and a mind of her own.
What this book is
Polly's Business Venture is a girls' adventure novel by Lillian Elizabeth Roy, part of the Polly Brewster series that began with Polly of Pebbly Pit. It follows a Colorado ranch girl who has come home from a summer in Europe and now wants to make her living as an interior decorator in New York.
The book gives you a lively tour of American antique hunting in the years around the First World War. You ride along with Polly and her friend Eleanor Maynard to farmhouses, country auctions and dusty storerooms, and you learn how a sharp eye can turn a quarter's worth of old glass into a real find. Along the way you meet the people who surround the girls: the kindly Fabians, the generous Mr. Dalken, the loyal Tom Latimer, and the cheerful, scheming Eleanor.
Money troubles back in the Rockies push Polly from hobby to business, and every suitor who turns up tests her wish to follow her own path. Let us begin on a ship in New York Harbor, where a wireless message sets the whole story moving.
In this summary
- 1A message at sea starts the funFree
- 2A joyful welcome turns sour
- 3A fall into the fog
- 4Tom's tale of the mine raiders
- 5Learning to hunt antiques in the country
- 6A forgotten print and a gift to the Museum
- 7A landslide and a first decorating job
- 8A rigged sale tests their honesty
- 9Tom tries ranch methods in the city
- 10Work, marriage and what the girls choose
Key point 1 of 10
A message at sea starts the fun
The story opens on the last day of an Atlantic crossing. Five girls stroll the deck, and a boy from the wireless room hands Polly Brewster a message. She will not open it in front of her friends, so Eleanor Maynard, her closest friend, teases her that it must be from a sweetheart.
The narrator then fills in the background for new readers. Polly grew up on Pebbly Pit ranch in the Rocky Mountains. A gold mine on Grizzly Slide and a cliff of lava stone that makes jewels brought her family new hopes and new enemies. Polly and Eleanor then came to New York to study decorating, and the summer before this book they toured Europe with the Fabians and the Ashbys. They also picked up the Alexanders, a rancher's family whose wife hunts for a title for her daughter.
The message is from Tom Latimer, the young mining engineer who is quietly in love with Polly. He writes in a brotherly way, saying that friends will come out to the ship by yacht that evening. Polly keeps it to herself, and her blush gives her away to everyone.
Eleanor and Dorothy Alexander, whom everyone calls Dodo, decide to learn more. They visit the wireless operator and chat him into talking. Then Eleanor persuades him to write a pretend message for her, signed Paul, so she will not be outdone by Polly.
The scene sets the tone for the whole book. Friends tease each other, small schemes grow out of curiosity, and Polly guards her feelings as carefully as she guards her plans for a career.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does Polly decide to earn her own way?
Right. “Because the lava works at Rainbow Cliffs were mortgaged to pay for it, the whole family finance is shaken.”Not quite. “Because the lava works at Rainbow Cliffs were mortgaged to pay for it, the whole family finance is shaken.”
What principle guides Polly after the questionable auction?
Right. “Polly says she would rather sell nothing than sell under false pretenses.”Not quite. “Polly says she would rather sell nothing than sell under false pretenses.”
What advice does Eleanor give Polly about Tom?
Right. “Treat Tom as a brother, she says, and let love take care of itself unless you are truly wild about him.”Not quite. “Treat Tom as a brother, she says, and let love take care of itself unless you are truly wild about him.”
Questions about Polly's Business Venture
What is Polly's Business Venture about?
It follows Polly Brewster, a Colorado ranch girl, and her friend Eleanor as they study interior decorating in New York, hunt antiques in the country, take their first jobs and deal with suitors and money trouble at home.
Do I need to read the earlier Polly books first?
No. The opening chapters sum up the earlier books, including Polly of Pebbly Pit, so you meet the characters, the ranch and the mines quickly and can follow the story from the first page.
Who are Tom Latimer and Mr. Dalken?
Tom is a young mining engineer, an expert swimmer, who loves Polly and waits for her. Mr. Dalken is a rich family friend who owns a yacht and helps the young people with advice and cars.
Is the antique hunting in the book based on real life?
The author marks the story of the rare Avignon print as a true incident from her own experience. The auctions, farmhouse bargains and dealer tricks reflect the collecting world of her time.
Is Polly's Business Venture easy to read?
It has short chapters, plenty of dialogue and a friendly narrator who recaps earlier events. The scenes are funny and clear, so the story moves along from auction to auction with ease.
