REQUIEM FOR A PRINCESS

by Ruth M. Arthur ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 21, 1967

By portrait possessed: sixteen-year old Willow Forrester, dismayed to discover suddenly that she is adopted, finds herself enthralled by, then in thrall to, the portrait of Isabel de Calverados, a sixteenth century Spanish. girl who was also an adopted daughter. Finding Isabel's medallion enables Willow to relive Isabel's life in her dreams; becoming Isabel, solving Isabel's problems, helps her to solve her own. Willow's repeated self-analysis makes explicit what should have been implicit, and discourages reader identification. The most significant attending and assisting characters, Rosamund Tresilian, owner of the old Cornish house where Willow is staying, and Amalie, the old servant, contribute to the solution without being involved in the problems: the first as sensitive, sensible older friend, the second as maybe witch. Unlike A Candle in Her Room (1966), the spirit is benevolent, but the fusion of adolescent anxieties and remote romanticizing is not convincing.

Pub Date: March 21, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION