The Borrowers by Mary Norton | Book Summary

The book details the lives of tiny people called Borrowers, including Homily, Pod, and their daughter Arrietty. They live beneath the floorboards of a large house. Everything they own is "borrowed" from the "human beans" who live above them. Their home features furniture made of ingenious items, such as matchboxes used as a chest of drawers and postage stamps (portraits of Queen Victoria) on the walls. Arrietty reads miniature books that appear to her as large as church Bibles. The Borrowers live in constant fear of being "seen". They tell Arrietty about the fate of her cousin Eggletina, who went upstairs in a blue dress and was never seen again after her father, Hendreary, was "seen". The family is thrown into crisis when Pod is "seen" by a human boy. The boy, who admits he is ten, tries to prove he can read, though he says his reading suffered after coming from India and becoming bilingual. He helps the Borrowers by bringing them luxury items from an old doll's house, including tiny carpets, chairs, and beds. Arrietty uses a page from her diary to write a letter to her lost relatives, the Hendrearys, which the boy agrees to deliver. The boy's actions, however, lead Mrs. Driver and Crampfurl to discover the Borrowers' nest, forcing the tiny family to emigrate to the outside world.