One of my Bookbarn companions, and a member of my online book group, is a lovely lady called Carol. Whilst we were at the Bookbarn she quizzed Diney and me about a book she'd read years and years ago and wanted to track down - only, of course, she couldn't remember the author or the title. She could give a description, though... and I volunteered to spread the net a bit wider, and ask you lovely folk. Here's what Carol remembers - please let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas! Or, indeed, if you're similarly on the hunt for a book but can't remember the title...
It must have been around in the late 1940s as it was a Sunday School prize of my mother's. It was about a girl who went to stay/live with her cousins and I think the name Pamela may have come in somewhere, or maybe Jennifer. It was set during the Peninsula War and there was lots of talk of blunderbusses and Martello Towers. I think it had an orange cover (not sure I remembered the colour the other day, and maybe I just remember a different colour every time I think about it!!) Anyway, I think mustard yellow, and by the time it came to me there was no dustjacket. No memory at all of author, name of book or publisher, so this is it, I'm afraid...
Get your thinking caps on!
I love a good book hunt but, alas, I could not find anything. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteMight try this site:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.utne.com/2003-11-01/HowtoFindThatBookYouveSpentYearsLookingFor.aspx
Doesn't ring any bells here, but must say that with this drawing, you could be on your way to creating your own Ideal Bookshelf... :)
ReplyDeleteSorry, can't help, but your friend could also try Abebooks book sleuth section.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like Watch The Wall, My Darling by Jane Aiken Hodge but that was published in 1966. Could it be a Georgette Heyer? Sorry, haven't read enough of them to know. Ask the doves Simon, someone there will be sure to know!
ReplyDeleteThere's also an often helpful group on librarything called Name That Book:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.librarything.com/groups/namethatbook#forums
Sorry, I have no idea myself :(
Those lost titles are so frustrating!
Lyn, it can't be that, I'm afraid because it was definitely my mother's book first and she was 29 in 1966, so that rules it out, I'm afraid. Thanks for trying though and I'll take up the other suggestions too.
ReplyDeleteCarol
Woah, life-as-a-bookseller flashback!
ReplyDeleteBut, just as then, I'm afraid I don't know.
That is a difficult one! Hope you find it :-)
ReplyDeleteI can't help! But I just want to say, YES, me too! Sometimes I am frustrated by titles that are not very descriptive. I have enjoyed Martha Grimes' series of detective novels, each of which is named after a pub of note in the book. The pub names are cute but I never know which is which because they don't relate to the plot at all. It's a bit much for me. Of course, as I tell my library patrons, if you've forgotten a book it's like you get to read it all over again! But that doesn't work if it's just the title you've forgotten. Good luck to your friend.
ReplyDeleteIt might be worth a browse through the books published by Girls Gone By - they seem generally to be novels in this vein. I wish I could help but it doesn't ring a bell. It's out there, though - I have dug up things after years of being forgotten - and sometimes they just appear out of nowhere like a dandelion...
ReplyDeleteI have vague memory of a book about an extended family with the surname TOWER or TOWERS. I seem to remember that each member of the family was given a nickname e.g Martello Tower.
ReplyDeleteNot a Malcolm Saville was it?