I had one exactly like that a couple years ago. One that I'd read when I was in middle school or maybe a little younger. I knew exactly where it was in the library Ma worked in before she became Head Librarian and the library moved out of the parsonage [yes, the old library was in a parsonage!] and into its own building. All I could recall was that it was about a vampire-like creature who ate souls and I thought he made a necklace that looked kind of like pearls that he made a girl wear. I looked for it for years and it wasn't until I attended a Teen Lit panel at Dragon*Con a couple few years ago that I figured it out. The panelists were several authors (Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Holly Black) and a couple librarians, whose names, sadly, I cannot remember. After the discussion, I went up to the older librarian, who had specialized in Young Adult lit for over 3 decades and asked her about it. I told her that if she didn't know what this book was, I was just gonna have to give up! But she knew it right off! :) So, all you gotta do is find that one person who knows everything...


















Oh! You wanna know what book it was? :) The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce.

I just read that! As you were describing it, I thought, is it The Darkangel? LOL, awesome. Is this the book gods' way of telling me I should describe my long-lost book, just in case you know it? :D

It can't hurt, can it? :)

True. ;) This is what I know:

- teen/pre-teen fantasy novel published before 1995
- I read it at the same time as I was plowing through the MagicQuest (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/series/magicquest/) books, but judging by their summaries, it's not one of those
- heroine is a young woman whose face was so stiff that she couldn't form expressions; the people in her village made fun of her, calling her some variation of Stoneface or Stonejaw, and I believe the reason for her ailment was some sort of spell...she may have been a changeling, but it's also possible that the people in her village simply thought she was a changeling

And while no one's yet known what the book is, I did get a response from someone who said the book sounded familiar to them, as well. They added these details, though I can't swear to them belonging to the same book:

- the heroine had to venture into the fairy realm to reclaim something/someone or to fulfill an obligation, but at the end of the story she was able to get herself back home
- her name might have been Catherine or Katherine
- the title may have something to do with a sentinel at the gate

And though many of these details are similar to The Perilous Gard, it's definitely not that book.

You might want to try whatwasthatbook...the community is pretty good at identifying books in the absence of title and author.

I've posted a few other lost book queries there without much success, but I suppose it can't hurt to try again. :) And since I eventually found those other books by myself, maybe posting at whatwasthatbook is a kind of good luck charm!

It's a total long shot, but I could always try heading over the VP library and see if it's still there? That is, if I can find the area in the library from your description...

It *is* a long shot, but if you'd like to check the shelves or ask the librarians there...who knows? Maybe it'll still be there. Or perhaps one of the librarians will know exactly what I'm talking about. :)

...So, assuming they haven't renovated/relocated books since I left: It's upstairs in the children's area and on the side of the building that looks out on the church's parking lot instead of the library's parking lot. After you've come up the stairs, a little to the right of the children's information desk and immediately before the nonfiction books start, there's a small open area with some chairs and some shelves on the wall for displaying books. The shelves bracketing this area used to be the JF and YF paperbacks. As you face the display shelves, the books on the left are where this book used to sit.

I can't find any floor plans for the library, but I did get a Google satellite image of the building, and I've marked roughly where this section of shelving would be if you could see down through the roof (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/anwylyd3/et%20cetera/library.png). I hope my directions will help, as well, but if they're not very clear, please let me know. And thank you!

I'm glad you figured it because I haven't had a chance to go to the VP library/ remembered that I was supposed to go to the VP library. ;)

Oh, good! Since the book definitely wouldn't have been where I thought it was, I was hoping you hadn't made it over there yet. Your efforts would have been sadly wasted. (Though certainly still appreciated. :D)