Looking for a book, can't recall the title or author.
March 21, 2012 11:36 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking for a book I read as a pre-teen. It's been years since I read it and I can't recall the name of the writer, or the title of the work. I recall a little of the plot, but not much. As far as I recall, it was about a girl living in a small town in the east coast who falls into a pit, or cave, something like that, and is saved by a man made of earth and stone.

They kind of end up falling for one another, and she finds out he was a soldier in the revolutionary war...or at least he was alive at that point. I don't remember the specifics of his background, just that he became what he was because he traded his life for his fathers. I think the girl may have also had another love interest who was pretty abusive and who may have posed a threat, but this might be me throwing in overtones of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" since the whole story had a pretty BatB feel to it.

In the end, their was some curfluffle that basically made the hero and heroine decide that the cave he lived in had to be closed off from the rest of the world. In order to keep anyone else from getting in trouble with this cave, they were going to blow it up, isolating the hero and heroine from each other for ever.

Not sure if I'm recalling this correctly, but I think the other love interest that was threatening to the girl may have died...not sure...

Anyway, I hope this sparks someone's memory, and hopefully, you guys can help me out! Thanks!
posted by Rosengeist to Writing & Language (6 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I think you could be talking about A Coming Evil by Vivian Vande Velde. The plot is different than you describe, but a girl does meet a ghost in a cave, and they do get somewhat romantically involved.
posted by epj at 12:04 PM on March 21, 2012


So, this is probably way off, but if I saw a word cloud of these words/phrases:

a girl living in a small town in the east coast
a pit, or cave, something like that
a soldier in the revolutionary war
love interest who was pretty abusive and who may have posed a threat
cave... lived in...closed off from the rest of the world
isolating...heroine... for ever


I'd guess it might be one of the several weird fictional versions of the life of Sarah Bishop that people have invented over the years.
posted by DestinationUnknown at 12:06 PM on March 21, 2012


I know exactly the book that you're talking about, but the title escapes me. It was Christopher Pike-esque, but I don't think he wrote it.

The cover had a young man's face surrounded by leaves (?) and he had weird eyes. The girl fell in love with him and he told her the story of how he got trapped in there and became part of the cave (something tragic).

Gah! This going to drive me crazy. I'll post again if I find it.
posted by Temeraria at 1:21 PM on March 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Yes Temararia! That's totally the cover, and that sounds about right, if you do recall the title of the book, or the author, I think that's the answer I'm looking for.

To Destination unknown, I looked up Sara Bishop, that seems to be related, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. I wonder if it wasn't something that inspired this book I'm thinking of though. Thanks :)

To epj, I don't think that's the book I'm looking for, though it looks interesting. Thanks for the link. :)
posted by Rosengeist at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2012


Response by poster: Found it!

It's Caroline B. Cooney's ya novel "The Stranger".
posted by Rosengeist at 1:44 PM on March 21, 2012


YES! Thank you!!!!!!
posted by Temeraria at 1:48 PM on March 21, 2012


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