Young Adult Novel with Purple Wallpaper

March 15, 2007 7:29 PM

Young Adult Literature: A little girl in an abandoned house and a room with purple wallpaper.

This is about all I remember. I read it in the late 70s-early 80s when I was a young girl, but I think the book was for older (meaning pre-teen) kids. I think the book was written earlier than 70s or 80s -- 30s, 40s or 50s maybe. I remember the girl being an orphan or abandoned. The girl would go to the house and have elaborate daydreams, and the main room she played in had decaying lavender or purple wallpaper. I've Googled and Amazoned and I can't find it. PS: I don't think it's "A Little Princess", but I think it's a similar story.

posted by macadamiaranch to writing & language (11 answers total)

I remember this book! The special room was a tower room. Her family were migrant workers, maybe?

Could it be The Velvet Room?
posted by not that girl at 7:46 PM on March 15, 2007

Is it The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder?
posted by runtina at 7:49 PM on March 15, 2007

There is a similar story with yellow wallpaper.

It is about woman whose depression turns to insanity and she experiences many strange hallucinations in the wallpaper.

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/wallpaper.html
posted by floam at 7:54 PM on March 15, 2007

Is the yellow room a story by Mark Twain or W.D. Howell? I think I remember that story also.
posted by thebrokenmuse at 8:05 PM on March 15, 2007

I believe it is The Velvet Room! I think I was also merging the words velvet/violet in my head. There was a tower room, and she'd read on a window seat. Thank you!!
posted by macadamiaranch at 8:10 PM on March 15, 2007

Is the girl at an orphanage, and she finds a little cottage that she turns into her own? I don't specifically remember purple wallpaper, and the name of the book is escaping me right now, so I'm hoping this jogs someone else's memory...I think the book was the girl's name, and I think it started with an M. There was a room that was covered in seashells in the cottage...

I'll let you know if I wake up at 2am remembering the name of the book.
posted by bibbit at 8:11 PM on March 15, 2007

All right, nevermind. But I do have to go find that book now. It's somewhere in my parents' house...
posted by bibbit at 8:12 PM on March 15, 2007

bibbit-
You are thinking of the book Mandy. It's a great book.
posted by i_like_camels at 8:17 PM on March 15, 2007

Remembering the migrant workers let me google it...I googled something like "young adult novel migrant room" and it was the second hit.
posted by not that girl at 8:21 PM on March 15, 2007

Mandy is by Julie Edwards (aka Julie Andrews -- yes, the actress).
posted by wildeepdotorg at 10:26 AM on March 16, 2007

Yes! Mandy! And fancy that - I had never realized the author was really Julie Andrews. Thanks, folks!
posted by bibbit at 6:10 AM on March 17, 2007