Category Archives: Solved

305U: Diary of a girl who died (Solved)

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The book in question is a ghost story that I read in the late 80s and I believe it to be a Young Adult book or possibly geared towards preteens. My impression is that it was written or published in the 70s, but that is only a guess. I cannot remember the title, but it was an off white hardcover library book with some sort of random small scene on the front relating to the story. It was a fairly thin book, maybe only 50-75 pages?

The story was about a teenage girl who had to go live with her uncle (I think) for some reason, and while she was there she found an old diary from a girl who had died many years before. The book makes many references to the ‘bogs” near the house (I didn’t know what a bog was before reading this book) and the girl who wrote the diary died after running into one of the bogs in the middle of the night and sinking. Not sure if it was accident or a suicide due to grief. I believe that there was a reference to a missing necklace or locket and the girl (who wrote the diary) had a boyfriend/lover/fiance that may have been a soldier named Ian who died.

 

One of the chapters in the book was titled “Letters To Ian.”  The main character becomes obsessed with the story as she reads the diary and starts having dreams/hallucinations about this girl and Ian and their deaths. Near the end of the book she finds herself either sleepwalking or hallucinating and ends up caught in one of the bogs in the middle of the night, possibly trying to find the locket/necklace.

I read this books dozens of times when I was young but never owned it and one day when I went to check it out again ( I lived next door to a library as a child) I found that the library had discarded it in a mass auction to make room for new books. I was heartbroken, and none of the librarians could provide me with the title to search for it elsewhere. We only had paper catalogs in our small town library and no computer system back then to look at what books a customer had checked out. I’ve tried for 30 years to remember the name of this book so that I can look for a used copy somewhere, with no luck.

Hopefully the little that I can still remember will jog someone’s memory.

 

305O: A jewel from the ruins (Solved)

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I read a hardback book, in the ’70s, about a girl on a coast, Ireland or Britain, who finds a piece of jewelry, a ring or broach or a necklace (in the ruins of an ancient building maybe?) She has dreams that reveal the life of the girl who had the piece a long (centuries?) time ago. The dream girl was maybe Spanish.

There were dolphins, and an island that figured very large in the story.

It didn’t seem like a new book at the time. Looking back I would guess that it was written after ww2. It had a sad tragic feel to it.

Does this ring any bells?

305L: Magician and girl fight spiritualism together (Solved)

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Children or young adult historical fiction book, set during late 1800s or early 1900s. Girl is on cruise ship with silly female relative who believes in spiritualism, meets stage magician (Anton?) who smokes something distinctive (briar root? cheroot?) and teaches her how to do magic tricks. Author emphasizes logic over belief. Mystery involved? Published between 1950 and 2000, probably late 20th century.

305C: Family, priced to sell (Solved)

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Dear Book Stumper, 15-20 years ago I acquired a children’s book that was old at that time (it had been in a library that was being closed). I didn’t have the book long before I somehow lost it and since then I’ve not found another copy, nor have I found anyone who has ever heard of such a story. I don’t know the title, but the story line is this:

A man decides he wants a wife so goes to a Wife Store and selects one. After a while the couple decide they want children so they go to a Children Store and select several. As the story goes on, the children are given “names” (numbers or letters), pets, and I think the family gets a home and/or land. Several other stores are involved in the story. I seem to remember that the man’s/ family’s last name was “Hunkendunk,” but am by no means sure about it.

I’ve tried local libraries, local book sellers of new and used books, online, entering what information I remember, without success.  Does this story line ring a bell with anyone out there?

 

304U: The Pig Tree (Solved)

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Illustrated young children's book about a chef who buys a little bush, thinking he'll grow figs, but it turns out it's a Pig tree. After many shenanigans and difficulties, he replaces his bush with what he thinks is a proper fig tree bush. . . however it looks at the end like it's gonna be a frog tree! I was a child in the 1970s and guess the book dates from early 70s, but could be mid 70s, or possibly late 60s. The book was probably written for age range 4-7. My searches on Google/Amazon/eBay for "The Pig Tree" or "The Fig Tree" - the titles my memory has provided - haven't found the right book.

304S: Her body had healing properties (Solved)

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I only remember a character. It was an old woman and her body had healing properties. I think it was ground down to a powder and used topically on wounds. She gave the main character her pinky finger and her other hand had already reduced to a stump. It wasn’t a gory process. She just broke it off as if it were stone.

304D: A girl grows to love her cousins (Solved!)

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I read this book in the late 70s/early 80s. It featured a young girl maybe around 10 or 12 years old, only child, who moved with her parents from the city to the country to take care of her younger cousins whose parents were in a car accident (or something like that – maybe one was sick and the other was with them?) They all moved into a big rambling old house that her dad had loved as a kid. The girl wanted to grow up to be a writer so she picked the garret room that had a skylight over her bed. Initially she resented having to move and share her life with her cousins. Over the course of the book she grew to love them. She had a friend whose parents owned a bookstore. She loved the bookstore but her friend wasn’t thrilled with it. At one point in the book, a cat had kittens in the big old house and the bookstore girl fell in love with a fluffy black one she named inky. She wanted to keep it but her parents said no (allergies maybe?) so the main character girl kept it so her friend could come over and play with it whenever she wanted. I think at the end of the book the parents were well again and could take their kids back and the girl was sad that they were splitting up. I think her parents decided to have another baby? I might be making that part up though lol!

Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!