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Anna is shy. Not the kind of shy where people blush when they?re spoken to in public by strangers. More the kind of shy where people would rather build an entire world within their own home so as to avoid coming into contact with even their most beloved family members. When young Anna is told that she?ll have to attend school soon, she uses her wits and cunning to fashion a living space for herself within the walls of her home. It is only when she finds a mysterious love letter pushed underneath one of the walls of her home that she must decide whether to make contact, or whether to continue to hide away.

The premise is fairly light. Any child that has ever felt a need to blend in with their surroundings will gravitate to such a tale. But Kindl has actually gone a step further. This is also a story of growing from childhood into adolescence. As Anna grows and learns, so too does her own body. She finds herself a young teenager with hormones just as raging as any other girl?s. Furthermore, in the course of this relatively short story (my edition was a scant 185 pages) Anna learns not only to confront the world but also to deal with the disappearance of her own father. The book is an allegory for growing up and making the world notice you. It is also the tale of how, for many, childhood is not a time to revel in, but a time to avoid until you reach an age where things are just a little better. Kindl discusses all these topics AS WELL as working in a clever lunar moth metamorphosis metaphor as well. All this, and it?s a fun read.

Someday I will write a list of the 100 children?s books every human being should at least have a passing understanding of. ?The Woman In the Wall? will not be number one on that list. It will not be number two. It certainly won?t make it into the top 20. But it will be on that list, and anyone who has ever felt the insanity of adolescence would do well to pick it up, read it through, and discuss it with their friends.


Great Book   December 17, 2003
This book was great! I really liked it and found it very interesting. It kept me wanting to read. It was about a girl who was very shy and and when she had to go to school she moved into her walls. She stayed in there for around 7 years and then she started getting love letters. After a few letters she was discovered and started living a normal teenage life. This is a fascinating book about friendship, identity, and love.


great book!   November 6, 2003
A wonderful book! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sad concept, but a very nice ending. I'd definately reccomend it!!!


Alex's Book Review   November 3, 2003
Patrice Kindl, author of "Owl in Love," produces yet another captivating story with her newest release, "The Woman in the Wall." The novel is written in first person, from the perspective of 14 year-old Anna Newland. Anna is not your typical teenage girl, though. Unlike her sisters, Andrea and Kirsty, who always seem to stand out, Anna wants just the opposite...to blend in. However, it's not people she wants to blend in with, so much as, the house. Or put more distinctively, the walls.
Anna lived in an old Queen Anne Victorian that was more like a mansion than a house and was built in the 1880's. She resided there with her mother and two sisters. Andrea was three years older than Anna and Kirsty was two years younger, so Anna was the middle child. Their father disappeared when Anna was only three. Anna, though extremely shy, had always been a very clever child and by the age of seven she had not only learned to sew clothes, but was also very handy with tools. She never wanted any recognition for the things she did, in fact, it was her desire to go through life completely unnoticed. It was because of this retiring disposition that when Ms. Newland insisted Anna go to school, she hid.
Anna created a small room out of plasterboard, lumber, and empty space that was actually just a room and passageway. The room was under the stairs and could only be entered through the basement. It had never been her intention to live there, just to have a secure hiding place but after an incident involving the psychologist from the school, Anna began coming out less and less. In fact, she built more and more secret passages. As time went on she only snuck out at night to get food. She had everything she needed within the walls and could go almost anywhere in the house, undetected. She went on this way for five years and though her mother protested, there was nothing she could do.
After a while, Andrea seemed to forget all about her but Ms. Newland and Kirsty continued to speak to her through the walls occasionally. Two days before her fourteenth birthday Anna received a love letter through a crack in the wall, written to "A" and signed, simply, "F". Anna decided to write back but it wasn't until he wrote his next note that she realized "F" had meant the letters to be for Andrea. Meanwhile Anna had begun to fall in love with this mystery man, so instead of telling him the truth, she went on pretending to be Andrea, always signing the letters with "A".
One day Anna overheard her mom talking to a man named Mr. Albright. It turned out that they were getting married and he wanted to move. Ms. Newland said she didn't want to move but couldn't tell him why. Being quite angry that her family had failed to mention this slight detail to her, Anna threw a huge fit and finally wore herself out. When she awoke she wasn't alone, someone else was in the wall with her. Two unexpected visitors bring startling news and Anna is faced with making a difficult decision: whether she should leave the sanctuary of the walls, the only home she's ever known or rejoin her family in the outside world once again.
A fairly fast-paced book, I greatly enjoyed the author's usage of literary elements. Kindl's straightforward approach sets a somewhat relaxing tone in that we can all relate, to a certain extent, to this desire for acceptance and understanding. Her interpretation of how the main character responds to situations is undeniably realistic and is only enhanced by the offbeat sense of humor of her character. Written so that you never know what to expect, "The Woman in the Wall," will hold your interest, through the climax, until very end.


Definately not your normal book   September 29, 2003
My teacher gave me this book because i was craving something different. Wow. It definately was.

A 7 year old girl, Anna, is terribly shy, but also, she is invisible. Noone but the family knows she exsists. When her mother told her she had to go to school, She retreats into the walls of the house. Over the years, she build passage ways and other rooms. Anna is extremely intelligent and all she does is sew and build things. Over the years her family starts to forget about her. 7 years later, when she finds a note written by the mysterious "F" and learns that her family might move away, she must decide whether to come out or not. Over the years she lives within the walls she grows into a woman and someone everybody can see.

This was a pretty cool book, but i definately would not reccomend it for guys.