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Original poster

Another 'does anyone remember this book' thread.

55 replies

FromMeToYou · 10/05/2015 13:55

I read it in the late '70s or early '80s. It was about a girl, possibly called Persephone, who lived with her parents and ?brother? above a chip shop. There was a sister who went to a boarding ballet school. The brother also had a talent, but the main character did not, so people always said that she had beautiful teeth. The other siblings did too but they also had other talents whereas she did not. I think she had the attic bedroom.

Any ideas?

OP posts:
ImperialBlether · 11/05/2015 11:05

Thanks, ThumbWitchesAbroad, but it's not the right one. I assume it's out of print now. It was a relatively modern book and it probably just didn't sell well. It belonged to my friend at the time but we've lost touch - I'd love to find out whether she's still got it!

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 11/05/2015 12:09

Imperial - have you tried asking on the forums on AbeBooks? I found them very helpful when I was trying to track down a book I read as a child but couldn't remember the name of.

ImperialBlether · 11/05/2015 12:11

I don't know that site, SDT - will go and have a look now. Thanks!

blub · 11/05/2015 12:24

Imperial, is it this one - A Candle in Her Room? Not called The Wooden Doll but has one in it. I loved that book.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/402024.A_Candle_in_Her_Room

ImperialBlether · 11/05/2015 12:58

Blub, that does look awfully like it. Does it end with her burning the doll? I can't remember whether the doll actually does burn or not but I remember there was a problem with it burning.

It does sound like it - I remember that it passed to a number of people, and that ties in with the blurb, where it says it passed down generations.

You might well have found it for me after all this time! Thank you! You don't still have a copy, do you?

blub · 11/05/2015 13:04

Ooh, I think you're right with her burning the doll - I think there was a bonfire in the garden. There was a girl called Melissa and I think it went down to her sister and then possibly her niece? I also seem to remember them suffering with asthma and having steam inhalation to help. (Random!) I don't have a copy any more, sadly - mine had a different cover, though.

blub · 11/05/2015 13:06

www.amazon.co.uk/Candle-Her-Room-Knight-Books/dp/0340253398

I had this cover - blimey, looking at those prices, I wish I had kept it!

BeezusFafoon · 11/05/2015 13:07

Your description made me think of this book Imperial. Birdie, the mother doll, is made of something very flammable. There was a TV version too.

ImperialBlether · 11/05/2015 13:25

Yes, I saw the prices! It wasn't my copy, but I used to borrow it from my friend all the time.

ImperialBlether · 11/05/2015 13:27

It's not that book, Beezus, though thank you for looking.

I think it is "A Candle in her Room." Can't believe I've found it after all this time of looking for it - don't know why I thought it was called The Wooden Doll.

By the way, if anyone here has the maiden name initials JL and used to have a copy of this, PM me!

happygirl87 · 11/05/2015 13:31

I fear the list linked to upthread is not totally accurate- number 43 on books most people haven't heard of is The Gruffalo.....

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 11/05/2015 13:40

Happy - I'm sure it's mostly a load of old bollocks tbvh - if not, it's really very worrying and scary!

EcclefechanTart · 11/05/2015 18:21

Can I add my long lost book please?

It is set in a zoo and the main character is a little tiger. Every night after the people go home the animals tell stories - every evening a different animal tells his/her story. Apart from the little tiger and his mother, there is also an elephant and some more unusual animals, including a sloth. Most of the stories are "Just So" style - how the tiger got stripes, etc.

I think there is also a villain, perhaps a crocodile, called "Spats". In one of the stories, the little elephant is covered in snow so that the villain can win a snow sculpture competition with his "snow elephant".

I can't remember much more but I had this book around 1983 when I was 4. I would love to find a copy to read to my own 4 year old!

Jux · 11/05/2015 19:36

Eastpoint, Mary Plain was fab. I think our library only had Mary Plain VIP, and my little bro would take it out almost every time! They are out of print now Sad

I think she was a predecessor to Paddington (and much better!).

EcclefechanTart · 11/05/2015 19:44

I recognise the one about the cat and the removal van, by the way. I will think about it and see if I can remember what it was called.

Eastpoint · 11/05/2015 20:06

We had some of them, I think they belonged to my father. I think Mary Plain, Heidi & When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit fuelled my desire to live somewhere German speaking (I do now speak German).

Does anyone remember a book called In Search of Sugar Cube Mountains or something similar? I also enjoyed a book all about a girl living in the Hungarian countryside month by month, I've forgotten who that was by & what it was called. It was in New Malden Library in the 1970s.

Laska42 · 11/05/2015 20:09

all stopped thanks It might be,, I cant remember that the cat had 3 legs though.. but as its only 1p 2nd hand on amazon ill give it a go .. Flowers

Eastpoint · 11/05/2015 20:12

I've googled & now worked out that the book is The Good Master by Kate Seredy (I typed in children's books set in Hungary). I found Xenia earlier so I really should have thought about how easy it is to find things out nowadays.

DeeWe · 11/05/2015 21:27

Anyone remember the Ursula bear stories. It was about a little girl who found a spell book about turning into a bear. She had to eat honey sandwiches while saying "I'm a bear" three times. To turn back again she had to eat burger (I think) and chips while saying "Reab a mi". I loved those when I was about 5 or 6, but no one else I've spoken to remembered them.

I asked about this book I read part of before, but no one came up with it. I was about 11yo when I read it. Someone was kidnapped or taken hostage, I think to stop their parents telling the police about something, but I'm not totally sure. I stopped reading it because I got scared as the kidnappers got increasingly violent towards the child and I really didn't cope with anything scarier than Famous Five I still don't
My dsis told me after it had gone back to the library that it was "really good" and a couple of years later I thought I'd see how it ended, but I couldn't find it. I've always wondered how it ended. I think it was probably 60s book as our libary had a number of those, but I might be totally wrong there.

monkeycat · 11/05/2015 21:58

Know the Ursula Bear books ! They are by Sheila
Laverne .
I bought some second hand ones from amazon a while back for my DDs .

EllieQ · 11/05/2015 22:05

havingamoraldilemma Sounds like Over The Moon by Elissa Haden Guest - an old favourite of mind I rediscovered a few years ago. On mobile so can't do a link, but it's on Amazon.

Jux · 11/05/2015 22:18

New Malden Library, Eastpoint? I'm boggling. That was our Library where we borrowed the Mary Plain!!!!!!!!! In the 60s though. Wow!

Eastpoint · 12/05/2015 08:23

Jux oh my goodness! I wouldn't have started using it until 1974, before then I went to Old Malden library (went to New Malden Parochial) and lived in Manor Drive North.

Jux · 12/05/2015 12:24

Wow! That is so weird Grin
In 74 I was at KCFE, and not using NM library any more. I grew up in R o d n e y Road (don't want it coming up in a general search).

Were you a Brycbox person?

Eastpoint · 12/05/2015 13:19

No - don't even know what Brycbox was - I'll google it.