Hi there,
I’m looking for a book that my parents bought for my sister and I in the early 90’s. It was soft cover book.
The illustrations are art nouveau-ish ( I remember that they have that “stained glass” look to them). The story is about a young girl with long dark hair who is wearing, to my memory, a flowing red dress who is either deliberately walking though or gets lost in the woods and she happens upon an abandoned castle what she wanders through. I seem to remember that there were climbing roses throughout the castle and animals that are watching her as she explores the castle. I don’t remember how it ends unfortunately. I feel like the girl’s name was Ella, but I could be completely wrong.
I have looked for YEARS to try and find this book; my parents remember it, but don’t know what happened to it and don’t remember what it was called or where they bought it; no idea if this is helpful, but I remember reading it on the ferry to Prince Edward Island, so I’m wondering if maybe my parents bought it in a nearby bookstore?
Maybe Dear Mili, illustrated by Maurice Sendak?
In order to save her daughter from a terrible war, the mother sends her into the forest telling her to return in three days. She meets St. Joseph who cares for her for three days, which in reality is thirty years.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252218.Dear_Mili