Ashley secretly hopes that if the doll is returned, history will be changed so that Louisa lives. The girls realize that the hole in the hedge is a gateway into the past and that Louisa's ghost will be trapped there until she gets her doll back. Even Kristi is upset by this unfair outcome.Īshley forces Kristi to follow her through the hole in the hedge to explain to Louisa why they can no longer bring back her doll. Cooper and scolds Ashley for stealing, while Ms. Though Ashley protests that she is not a thief, her mother makes her give Anna Maria to Ms. Cooper tells Ashley's mother that Ashley stole the doll from her private rooms. Ashley tries to explain that she promised to give the doll back to Louisa, but hearing the name only makes Ms. Upon arriving home, Ashley discovers that Kristi, still angry, has told Ms. Ashley realizes that Anna Maria belongs to Louisa and promises to bring her back. Louisa shows Ashley her collection of dolls, but tells her that her favorite doll, Anna Maria, was stolen by a girl named Carrie. On the other side, she meets a girl named Louisa who is dying of tuberculosis. The white cat reappears, and Ashley follows him through a hole in the hedge. Kristi, believing Ashley made up the story as an excuse to keep the doll for herself, storms off in anger. In the morning, Kristi and Ashley quarrel over which of them gets to keep Anna Maria, with Kristi claiming ownership because she discovered her and Ashley insisting that Anna Maria will cry again if taken out of the house.

The crying ceases, and Ashley believes she has solved the mystery. Believing Anna Maria is crying from loneliness, she slips outside and takes the doll into the house, hiding her in a dresser. That night Ashley hears crying in the garden once more. Cooper approach and quickly hide the doll, but Ms. While pulling weeds, Kristi uncovers a buried box containing an antique doll named Anna Maria, along with a handwritten apology from a girl named 'Carrie' addressed to 'Louisa.' As the girls wonder who Carrie and Louisa might be, the white cat appears. Later that night, Ashley also hears crying in the garden.Īshley convinces Kristi to help her clean up the garden. Kristi tells her the neighborhood kids believe the garden is haunted by a ghostly cat, and that they hear mysterious crying coming from the hedges. Cooper's warnings to stay out of the house's overgrown and neglected garden, Ashley goes exploring and meets a younger neighbor, Kristi. Still angry over the recent death of her father, ten-year-old Ashley moves with her widowed mother into the upper floor of a boarding house owned by mean-spirited Ms. The Doll in the Garden: A Ghost Story is a children's novel by Mary Downing Hahn.

Doll in the garden