The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring Review and Summary – SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE SCRUMPTIOUS THRILLER FOR YOURSELF!
The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring is a novel by John Bellairs that takes you on the incredible journey of none other than Lewis Barnavelt’s friend, Rose Rita. Unlike the past two books, this story doesn’t follow the perspective of chubby kid Lewis, and instead is told from the perspective (selective omniscient) of tomboy Rose Rita and old Mrs. Zimmerman.
The story begins with Rose Rita having a fit with her mother. Rose Rita, as I had just mentioned, is a tomboy through and through, and hated the idea of going to middle school like a toddler hates broccoli.
So it was natural that she would be distraught at the idea of going to girl scouts camp. We see that Mrs. Pottinger, Rose’s mother, is almost on her last straw with the young lady. She doesn’t want to yell at Rose Rita; after all, she can’t change her daughter’s mindset. Rose Rita then continues to daydream about being accepted as a boy, where her actions are just an ordinary everyday thing, where she can play all the baseball she wants without being judged. Even worse, her friend Lewis is going away to Boy Scouts Camp for the summer.
Later, she finds herself at the comforting home of Mrs. Florence Zimmerman for a party, where she can forget her troubles just for a few hours and have fun with her friends. There, she finds that Lewis wanted to go to Boy Scout camp so that he could be seen as a real boy. You see, Lewis isn’t anything like the “other boys” the same way Rose Rita isn’t like the “other girls.” Lewis isn’t good at sports at all, and doesn’t like roughhousing. By going to Boy Scout camp, Lewis can learn how to become more of a boy in an attempt to get Rose Rita to like him better. Of course, Rose Rita likes Lewis just the way he is, and she’s just fine with Lewis how he is, so naturally she’s upset that Lewis wanted to leave her to try to make her like him better.
Mrs. Zimmerman doesn’t want Rose Rita to be upset. So she invites her on a trip to go up to her cousin’s Oley’s farm after a peculiar letter was sent to her. The letter spoke of a magic ring that Oley supposedly owned, but Mrs. Zimmerman said that Oley was a bit of a nutter due to his solitude. While Rose Rita is suspicious of this, she accepts this to some degree, and agrees to go. While her parents argued over whether she should go, Rose Rita began to ponder on the case of Middle School again. “Rose Rita felt a sudden sense of hopelessness when she remembered that she wouldn’t be able to be a tomboy forever. Skirts and nylons, lipsticks and power puffs, dating and dancing were all waiting for her in Junior High. Wouldn’t it be nice if she were really a boy” (Bellairs, 26). Here, Rose Rita is concerned for her future as a tomboy, and is worried if she can keep up her ways.
Soon, Mrs. Zimmerman and Rose Rita hit the road to Petoskey.
Along the way, they eat at a diner, where Mrs. Zimmerman totally dominates everyone with her pinball skills. After shopping at a nearby bakery, the duo continue on their way. However, they ran out of gas almost at the desitination, and had to stop at a nearby gas station. There, Mrs. Zimmerman encounters an old rival of hers, Gert Bigger.
The illustration accompanying Gert shows a very large old woman, about as old as Mrs. Zimmerman, with a hunchback. She clearly gave the impression of a grumpy old witch of the woods, and based on what limited knowledge we have of her, we know that she’s bound to pop up later, but not in any sort of positive manner. According to Mrs. Zimmerman, Gert Bigger is simply “mad at the world”, and that is her reason for having such a grudge against Mrs. Zimmerman specifically is because the two of them had fought over a boyfriend when they were much younger, and Mrs. Zimmerman had won said fight.
Eventually, they made it to the ranch. The two of them drove right up to the barn, and soon after, entered the house. When they walked in, they found the entire place in a ransacked and ruined state. Even more peculiar, they found a small blue velvet box, something that perhaps a ring was fit into. But whatever had been fit in there was gone at that point.
Mrs. Zimmerman didn’t seem concerned at all with this. She claimed that the ring wasn’t magic at all, and that there was no point for whoever stole it to steal it. She still claimed that old Oley was an absolute nutter, and thought that an old washer was a magic ring. But Rose Rita saw through Mrs. Zimmerman’s façade and figured that she was simply covering up the ring’s magical powers.
The next day, the duo left for sightseeing and exploring up and into the Upper Penninsula. As the day began to end, Mrs. Zimmerman started poking around some antique shops as she loves doing so, and she found something rather peculiar. It was an image of Mrs. Zimmerman in a picture, with her face scratched off.
Here, we can think all the way back to “The House with the Clock in its Walls”, where Uncle Jonathan mentioned that if you destroy something that represents someone or something, such as a picture of someone, you can destroy/kill someone or something. Uncle Jonathan gave the example of a witch who placed someone’s photo under running water until their face faded away. This method was possibly used when Uncle Jonathan eclipsed the moon for Lewis and Tarby. Mrs. Zimmerman was extremely disturbed when she saw the picture of herself in the antique shop, and after she bought it and explained briefly that just like I had explained earlier: “It was a way of murdering somebody by magic” (Bellairs, 49). She later burned the picture and refused to speak of it further. This put Rose Rita on edge. She was confused and worried for the safety of Mrs. Zimmerman.
However, Rose Rita had problems of her own. She still wondered whether she could still be a tomboy in middle school. She had taken a quick peek at a local middle school dance, and saw the wallflowers simply sitting at the side of the walls. She didn’t think it looked like much for them, and figured that she would become a wallflower when she moved up to middle school. She thought about it more, and realized that girls couldn’t do much other than sit and look pretty, which was mostly the case back when this book takes place. Based on a Google Ngram search I did, it appears that the book takes place somewhere in the mid 1900 as they always call middle school, “Junior High”. So it would make sense for there to be discrimination against girls and women; after all, women had just received the right to vote in 1920. Rose Rita spoke to Mrs. Zimmerman about this dilemma, and she talks about her past relationship and about being a widow, and this appears to calm Rose Rita down a bit. After a couple of games of cribbage, the two of them go to bed.
That night, Rose Rita awoke to a terrible feeling in her gut. It appears that she has some sort of special intuition and knows precisely when something bad is about to happen. When she went to Mrs. Zimmerman’s room, she saw a dark figure, hunched over Mrs. Zimmerman. She awoke Mrs. Zimmerman at once. However, Mrs. Zimmerman assured her that everything was all fine, that she must’ve mistaken her dress as a person. Rose Rita was not comforted in the slightest. She had been absolutely sure that there was a person standing over Mrs. Zimmerman. She could tell that something was very wrong.
And something very wrong there was. The next day, as they were driving down the road to their next destination, Mrs. Zimmerman began doubling over in pain over the steering wheel. She told Rose Rita that she had appendicitis, and to take the wheel. Although she was scared, brave Rose Rita took control of the car.
Though she had never driven before (naturally as she was underaged), she stepped forward and drove. Though many would’ve cowered at the prospect of driving with any lessons or experience, Rose Rita did it. Unfortunately, she crashed the car before she could make it to the hospital, but this ended up doing more good than harm. Not only did the two of them escape with only some minor injuries, the police found them, and they were sent to the hospital. To pass the time while Mrs. Zimmerman was still unconscious, Rose played ball with some boys. Most of them were impressed, except for a lug who teased her constantly. But after beating him in baseball trivia, he “put his hands on his hips and looked at her straight in the eye. ‘Well, you wanna know what I think? I think you’re a pret-ty damn funny kind of girl” (Bellairs, 76). Rose Rita took that harder than she expected. She ran off, mad at the boy, but mostly mad at herself for letting him get to her.
When she got back to Mrs. Zimmerman, she found the real reason why Mrs. Zimmerman fell ill. It wasn’t appendicitis, it was a charm pinned to the inside of her dress. After exiting the hospital, Mrs. Zimmerman said that they needed to get home ASAP. They went to bed, exhausted. But the next day, something strange was going on with Mrs. Zimmerman. She demanded that she and Rose Rita leave for Oley’s farmhouse, even when she said that she needed to get home at once. This is very out of Mrs. Zimmerman’s normally kind and compassionate nature. Rose Rita even thinks, “Rose Rita had never seen Mrs. Zimmerman act this way before. Her voice was harsh, and her actions were rough and almost brutal. It was almost as if someone else had gotten inside of Mrs. Zimmerman’s skin” (83). Mrs. Zimmerman almost appears possessed, something that could very much have happened. Or perhaps she was drawn to the ring, maybe something magical lured her to it. Anyway, whatever happened to her wasn’t natural at all. The two packed their things and left the hospital.
The car ride there was oddly silent. Rose Rita recalled that Mrs. Zimmerman would always laugh and joke around when they were on the road, but now she was silent. She only spoke when Rose Rita asked her why they were going, and she simply replied with “I don’t know why. There’s something I have to do there, but I can’t remember what it is” (Bellairs, 86). She spoke sluggishly, like she was exhausted. They made it to the farm, but shortly after they arrived, Mrs. Zimmerman disappeared.
Terrified, Rose Rita frantically began searching for her. She failed, and retreated back to the car to sleep. The next morning was cheerful and lovely, and Rose Rita decided that she wasn’t going to cry because that wouldn’t bring Mrs. Zimmermann back. Her thoughts wandered about, curious about what to do. She finally settled on going to Gert Bigger’s place, and so she did. As she approaches the front of the shop, we see a chicken. This chicken appears to be slightly out of its mind, as it starts freaking out when Rose Rita approaches. Rose Rita ignores this, and she asks to use Gert’s phone to call Uncle Jonathan. While Uncle Jonathan doesn’t pick up, she does find something peculiar: a pentacle. A pentacle was a magical symbol used by witches and wizards when they wanted something dramatic to happen, whether good or bad. This proved to Rose Rita that Gert Bigger was a witch. Gert Bigger was about to do something to Rose Rita, but at the last moment, someone called her name and she left Rose Rita, who immediately high-tailed it out of there.
Rose Rita ran and ran until she could run no more. She collapsed, and it was then when a girl around Rose Rita’s age came up to her. Her name was Agatha. Some readers may have been suspicious of Agatha as soon as they saw her name. Agatha is a cryptic name to be suspicious of; after all, take a look at Agatha Harkness from WandaVision. When a writer names a character Agatha, you know that she’s gonna have some connection to magic. However, in this case, Agatha Sipes (or Aggie) was a kind, sweet little girl who was just interested in helping out Rose Rita. Rose Rita trusted Aggie, and they left for her home.
They made it to the Sipes’ place, and after some lunch, Rose Rita had a conversation with Mrs. Sipes. Rose Rita believed that she was a good liar and came up with a tall tale to keep Mrs. Sipes from calling her parents, but this failed miserably. After telling the truth, Rose Rita and Aggie spent the rest of the day attempting to contact Uncle Jonathan. But like before, he didn’t respond. This is when Rose Rita decided that enough was enough, and says the memorable line, “how’d you like to help me break into Mrs. Bigger’s store? Tonight!” (Bellairs, 130). Rose Rita is now taking things into her own hands, and with the help of her new friend Aggie, she is going on her way to save Mrs. Zimmerman. With some help, she managed to break into the store cellar. And down there, well, that’s where the epic climax takes place. Although it’s not a big boss battle, it gives it that kind of theme while still retaining that classic Bellairs style.
Rose Rita awoke in darkness. She felt something on her eyes, and her hands were crossed. Back then, during the Salem Witch Trials, if someone had the influence of a witch over them, their body would contort and their hands would cross. This is shown here with Rose Rita’s crossed hands over her chest. Gert Bigger walks in, and begins on a spiel about now having the magic ring and its capabilities. She then goes on to summon the demon Asmodai.
She wishes a rather clique wish; she wished for immortality and eternal youth. Her wish was granted, and she disappeared. Suddenly, Rose Rita felt like she could move once again. She got up and ran for her life. She didn’t know what she was running from, and she didn’t know why, but she ran deep, deep into the woods. She then slipped the ring on her finger, and called upon Asmodai. But as she began to speak to Asmodai, Mrs. Zimmerman came over, almost like an angel. And with that, our heroine was saved.
Mrs. Zimmerman then proceeds to clear up a few things: The chicken in the front other was her, and the young beautiful willow tree that just appeared was Gert Bigger. This is reasonable, as after Asmodai cast his spell and turned Gert Bigger into a tree, she lost all of her magical capabilities.
This led Mrs. Zimmerman to revert back to normal form. Because Gert Bigger is a normal person who wishes to be magical, it is likely that her magic is weak, and can’t sustain it. Although Mrs. Sipes said that witches and magic were involved in the mystery, Mrs. Zimmerman claimed that there was none, and that was the end of that. Mrs. Zimmerman also assured the Pottingers that everything was fine, and everything was fine after that. They go back home, tired but happy after a long adventure. The story ends with a trip to a lake, where we see Lewis swimming for the first time, and it appears that everything is pleasant and happy once again.
This story gives us an excellent view on the life and struggles of Rose Rita. It shows us how much thought she puts into her future, and makes us wonder what will become of her in middle school. Rose Rita is a true heroine here, and although she isn’t capable of magic, we see her dive straight into the thick of it and emerge victorious. This book utilizes a unique perspective and new characters to create a fascinating tale of the troubles of a young girl, and it is a rather magical tale indeed.
