"Leave this place, or you will become just another image in the tower room. Go away! You will die here if you do not!"

The strange warning had come over the loud-speakers the moment I arrived at the Gibbons' chalet. Although they were visibly upset, neither my husband-to-be nor his relatives would tell me what the warning meant.

The first chance I had, therefore, I went hunting for the tower room. In it was a breath-taking doll house, a miniature of the chalet. Beautifully made dolls represented each member of the household, and at first sight it was enchanting. But when my future mother-in-law found me studying it, she was furious. "It is ugly and portends evil and death," she said. "That's all you have to know. Stay away from it."