Young lass from Scotland with a hare lip who wants to be a ballet dancer.

[reynardo]

(Cross-posted to whatwasthatbook
Greetings, fellow book-philes.

Many years ago (so about 1977) I read a book that I thought was a Noel Streatfeild, but I can't find anything like it on the website or otherwise. And a long description follows. Nothing icky - but to save your pages...

A young girl in Scotland has a deformity (possibly a hare lip) that makes it hard for her to speak. She is at a demonstration of ballet, and one of the dancers shows her how the hands in ballet tell the story by their gestures. The ballerina makes some comment about "you should come and see me if you're even in London) (I think she meant "on the stage" but the young girl takes it literally)

Later the lass is working for unfair employers as a maid. She gets help from a neighbour to leave, because she wants to go to London. I particularly remember the friend tells her she needs to leave wages in lieu of notice, and she hasn't got much money, so she leaves stamps instead.

Then she gets to London, and tries to find the address of the dancer. She walks down one street, starting at number 1, looking for a high number on that side, not realising that the numbers go "contrariwise", that is if one side is 1,3,5,7,9 etc, the even numbers will go in reverse - 10, 8,6,4,2. So she walks the whole street twice. Of course she gets to the dancer's place, and the dancer is not that pleased to see her. But the young girl has practised the arm movements that the dancer showed her so long before, and communicates through them.

It ends with the girl being looked after, and I think someone arranges for her hare lip to be mended.

Any of you remember this one?

Comments

[feathersindigo.livejournal.com]

Would it be "Dress Rehearsal" by Lorna Hill? Did some googling, and got the hit on the Goodreads website with the description of the book being "As a lonely orphan, Nona Browning sees Sylvia Swann dance the Sugar Plum Fairy. Sylvia helps the disfigured child to walk - and even to dance. But when Nona has to leave the orphanage to work, it looks like her dancing days are over forever..."

[feathersindigo.livejournal.com]

Further info on above book "Nona is not only an orphan but also has a hare lip and distortions in her legs and body. Lorna Hill shows how Nona wins through to success against all the odds, overcoming both her disabilities and her lack of "background". "Nona" is merely a reversal of the word "Anon" that was entered in the ledger when she was born."

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

OOoh - that could be it. I wonder if the Hornsby Library has a copy? (which would be the copy I borrowed).

[feathersindigo.livejournal.com]

Alas, just did a search of the catalogue and it appears not ...

[adelaidearcher.livejournal.com]

It's definitely Dress Rehearsal. I can probably track you down a copy if you like?

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

That's sweet of you, but I'm pretty sure I can snag one around here somewhere. Second hand bookstores are a favourite hangout.