Can we have a 'Does Anyone Recognise this Book' thread?

[deleted203]

I know lots of us have vague memories (particularly me, as I get older) of much loved children's books we can't remember the title of. Thought we could post and see if anyone else can help.

I am desperate to know the name of a book I read in probably late 70s aged about 11-ish, that I only remember faintly.

There was a girl who went to stay with her aunt/godmother who was a witch and so were the rest of the village women, I think. I can't remember much about it except that her aunt upset the others (who I think were bad witches) and they were more or less trapped in their house being beseiged by the bad witches. There might have been ravens/crows involved. It would have been set in England.

Ring any bells anyone?

[Ponders]

I loved him, he was a sardonic old sod, just how you'd imagine a snarky black witch's cat would be. That book introduced me to widdershins

There was a trilogy according to amazon - Carbonel, Carbonel & Calidor, & The Kingdom of Carbonel (don't know if that's the correct order)

[TicketToHull]

YES! That's it! Thank you so much, I've honestly been searching for years

Rather strangely, I'd been hankering after a carbonara after my last post and was about to look up the recipe for it. Unconscious mind at work? or greedy belly

[Ponders]

witchcraft, probably, Ticket

[madamehooch]

Can anyone shed any light on mine?

[Isthisme]

RubberNeckNibbler - was yours perhaps Rebecca & Rebecca's world by Terry Nation?

[deleted203]

What a great thread this is! (Mine's definitely not Lizzie Dripping, btw ). Really glad lots of folks are leaping for joy at finding 'their' books though. The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris was a Leon Garfield book, for anyone who's interested. And I would agree with 'Carbonel'. I've got the whole lot of those.

[JellyMould]

Yours isn't mist over Pendle is it, sowornout? That's what sprang to mind.

[WorkInProgress]

Aghoul, Is your book was one of a series by John Rowe Townsend about Gumbles Yard ?

[deleted203]

Hi Jelly. I don't think mine is 'Mist over Pendle' after a quick Google. That seems to be a novelisation of the 1612 Pendle witchcraft trials. This was definitely a modern day book. I'm sure at one point they discovered the phone wasn't working and they couldn't call for help.

[VBisme]

I remember a book about a brother and sister who were sharing a room and they well asleep and both had a dream, and hers had sheep and his had dragons (I think), and the hillsides they were on (in the dream) had blue and red flowers on.
When they woke up they noticed that the green bedclothes had blue and red flowers on (or something).

[KnickersOnOnesHead]

Trying to find a book but cannot for the life of me remember what it is called!! There were two school friends, one was called Tori, and I think they did spells and things... not much help, sorry. But would love to find the book again!

[puffylovett]

Ooh great thread! Anybody know this one? I think there were more than one book -

Protestant Irish boy meets catholic Irish girl, big love affair and they eventually run away together and have a baby, living in a bedsit I think? It's about their relationship struggles.

Another one - German? Boy meets girl and has to go off to war, set in a mountainous region somewhere, very sad!

Not much detail I appreciate but if anyone remembers them I'd love to rerrad them - the storylines have stayed with me over the years.

[comixminx]

Puffylovett, the Protestant / catholic saga is the Kevin and Sadie books by Joan Lindgard. Think actually the boy was catholic and the girl Protestant rather than the other way round. Not sure about the German one though.

[KittyBump]

I've read the whole thread and not recognised any - sorry! So not sure if anyone can help with mine; it's a book I got from my school library in the early 90s and was maybe set in America, there was a girl (possibly teenage) living with her mum they moved around all the time and eventually it turns out the girl was actually snatched as a baby and they have been on the run. I remember she finds out she was snatched from the garden outside her house - any ideas?

[steppemum]

rubberneck - I have rebecca and rebeccas world, didn't recognise it from your posts, but now someone has suggested it it does sound like it fits. The cities in it were very loght and airy and made of glass (I think, may be false memory!)

[PrincessSymbian]

There was a book before Rebecca's World? What happened in it? Is it worth tracking down?
And yes the city is made of glass but that's not a good thing.
Mine was a book about two little Chinese dolls, one is called miss happiness and the other is miss flower. Dies anyone remember that one?

[PrincessSymbian]

Oh and in my memory Worlds Apart was about an eleven year old girl who runs off to find her estranged father.
Dies anyone remember s book about a boy and a girl who run away together to live in Alton Towers?

[crappypatty]

you lot have far superior memories than mine, Once you have named the books I am going oh yeah.

The book I need to find is actually a big book of puzzles, riddles, pictures. It was a hardback, the paper cover was missing, the cover was orange. It was a really thick book.

I have searched before but without characters or a story line. I have never found a better puzzle book.

[CaseyShraeger]

PrincessSymbian... Sticking my neck out here with an off-the-wall suggestion but possibly Miss Happiness and Miss Flower by Rumer Godden?

[CaseyShraeger]

VBisme - Ninety-nine Dragons by Barbara Sleigh

[PurpleGentian]

PrincessSymbian - is the doll one this one? (Dolls are Japanese though.)

Rumer Godden - Miss Happiness and Miss Flower

[CaseyShraeger]

SummerRain, I have a feeling I've read your book - not The Chrysalids or Children of the Dust - but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. So you can take some consolation from the fact that it's now going to be bugging two of us...

[PurpleGentian]

PrincessSymbian - the Alton Towers book sounds like Helen Cresswell - The Watchers

[CaseyShraeger]

SummerRain - Aha! By searching my Amazon back-orders, I have concluded that the book I'm thinking of is Shade's Children, by Garth Nix. The telepathy/telekinesis theme isn't obvious from the blurb, IIRC, but I think it's pretty important to the plot. And it's an only-children-left dystopia.

[louisianablue2000]

What about a series of three books with a magical theme? They were about a tree, a river and a mountain. I remember some people lived in the roots of the tree.