2 books that continue to hang in my memories

[mrskoz]

Hi there!

What a FANTASTIC community! I've read through a good number of posts here and at the previous domain. I actually recognized a long lost book there, too recently. I am hoping someone will recognize one of these two books I read once upon a time.

The first one I read as a teen in the 80s, so probably from 80s or maybe very late 70s. The story involved a teenage girl who was accepted and went away to a sort of super elite boarding school for artistic prodigy types: art/painting, music, also writing I believe? I think she had been selected over her friend who was perhaps even more gifted and that caused some kind of rift. I seem to remember a student at the school with a violin, possibly also someone who painted? The main girl discovered while she was there that she and her fellow students were being used by spirits who were channeling their own talents through so they could make their own creations live again, so to speak. I believe she saw a fellow student in a trance or unconscious and being "used" by the spirit/ghost to create. I think there was a main adult character in charge of the school - I can't remember, but possibly a headmistress. I've explored the usual titles/authors I could find, but even that search was incomplete...


And, unbelievably, in typing this I have suddenly remembered the strange dystopian second book's title that I've tried to remember for 25 years: House of Stairs.

Thank you for considering!

Comments

[mildred_of_midgard]

The first one is Down a Dark Hall, by Lois Duncan.

[flexagon]

Yep! I recognized it too! For another even creepier one by the same author, Daughters of Eve is good.

William Sleator has some other winners also -- maybe try Singularity.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Lois Duncan has several paranormals I liked, but the only book by her I've ever truly loved is the little known Season of the Two-Heart, which is about a meeting of cultures (Pueblo and white) and has nothing paranormal or fantastic about it. I throw in a lot of caveats when I rec it to people, but I do love it.

Oh, caveat about the paranormals: Duncan has a habit of "updating" her books to include references to email and cell phones and stuff, because apparently she thinks millennials can't relate otherwise. According to the Amazon reviews, Down a Dark Hall is one such, and the Kindle version dismayed a lot of people by being the updated version. It's just not as creepy without that sense of total isolation! Not having cell phone reception is a completely different atmosphere from being accustomed to not being in touch with people far away for months at a time and having very little chance of reaching them and certainly not at a moment's notice if you can just get to a place with reception.

So be warned, OP, that any copy you pick up may or may not be the same version that you read in the 80s, and definitely not if you get the Kindle version.

I did recently acquire the updated version of Gift of Magic, and sure enough, there were a couple throwaway references to emails that felt very shoehorned in. They didn't ruin the atmosphere, but they also didn't fit, because there's supposedly email but no one ever owns or sees a computer or cell phone, and the ways in which computers have shaped our lives are completely absent. It felt weird, and I miss the original.

But I'm avoiding the e-book of Down a Dark Hall, because it was always one of my favorites, and I agree that such a change would completely alter the atmosphere. Sigh.

[bluelittlegirl]

That upsets me, perhaps unreasonably. Why can't books exist in their own time? It's one of the very many reasons I usually cannot watch an adaptation after I've read the book.
I think "The Great Gilly Hopkins" did pretty well, but most don't. Honestly, though, setting the movie in the 70s would have been great, in my opinion. Thanks for the warning about Lois Duncan.

[mildred_of_midgard]

Right? I find it insulting and also baffling that young people are not supposed to be able to relate to books written before the year 2000. News flash: almost all of literature in human history that they will be expected to read for the rest of their lives was written before the year 2000!

Also, if you're going to change the time period of a book, you really need to actually think about how the time period affects your book. I read an interesting tumblr post, wherein someone reported seeing a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fic tagged "Modern AU" on AO3 and feeling super old, and someone reblogged to say, "No, but think about it! The plot would have been completely different with smartphones with built-in video cameras and social media." Which is also how I feel about Duncan's paranormals. Either they're set in circa the 1970s, or more than just a search-and-replace of the word "email" for "letter" is different.

[bluelittlegirl]

Preach it.
I agree completely.
Gods, am I old.

[starfleetbrat]

Its also a movie, if OP is interested. Stars Uma Thurman. But it was pretty average. Anyway, there may be a novelisation of the movie I guess? Just be wary when you go to grab a copy.

[mildred_of_midgard]

In conclusion, make sure the book is old and tattered when you pick it up. :P

[kaylee66]

Hello, welcome to the community!