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findthatbookHi 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!
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!
no subject
Date: June 10th, 2019 02:32 (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: June 10th, 2019 19:09 (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: June 10th, 2019 19:45 (UTC)I agree completely.
Gods, am I old.