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What book(s) has changed your life?
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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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There's a book I read as a teenager that changed my life in that it feels like a weird fever dream, and I've never been able to find it again. I had to wait for a manager at a furniture store for half an hour, picked up a display book from a shelf and as started reading. It's about a girl who has become orphaned, goes to live with her friend (who everyone calls her sister because they have the same birthday), and then the two of them run off together, end up getting adopted by possibly the literal devil, and are rescued by the friends maid, Olympia. French book translated to English, pretty sure. Loved that book, had a pretty big impact on me, and I've searched ever since. :(
When do you think you read it? Do you think it’s The Hunchback Assignmets by Arthur Slade?
That's not it, but looks fascinating! I read it 15 ish years ago, but if I had to guess I'd say it was early 1900s setting or before.
Are there any other details you can remember? I’m kinda curious and would like to see if I can help you remember what it was. Was it somewhat historical or did it have more fantasy elements?
I think the authors name was a pseudonym, and something like Jaques, maybe? The title may have been something like Little Angels. Olympia was black, and a major caricature. She's very fat, and has a large bosom. It was a display book in a furniture store, so the cover/title/author may not be accurate, though.
I remember pulling up the Wikipedia article for the author at one point after reading it in ~09?
The little girl's friend was wealthy. Like, insanely sane. They leave and adventure, end up very bad off. Adopted by a very nice preacher and his wife, that turn out to be evil, and may have been the literal devil (which would be the only sort of fantasy aspect that I can recall), and Olympia bursts in at the moment and rescues.
That's really all I can remember. I've tried for years.