At the same time, Miss Christabel gives Maggie her embroidered handkerchief. Her curiosity grows when she finds a trunk of doll clothes that have been partially charred. Maggie is curious that the dolls always seem to believe it is the same hour of the same day, and that they cannot remember how they came to be in the attic. As she learns to accept the dolls' love, she improves both physically and emotionally, eventually even befriending girls at her school. Maggie is expected to join the dolls for tea, then accompany them to the portion of flowered wallpaper they call their rose garden. Later that night, Maggie feels guilty for injuring the dolls and returns the next day to repair them, beginning a relationship.
Confused, frightened, and angry, Maggie rejects the dolls, overturning their kitchen table and scattering them. The dolls, who can move as well as speak, greet Maggie as their new caretaker. Finally she hears them calling her by name and eventually traces them to a secret room behind the attic wall, where two large dolls-Timothy John and Miss Christabel-live in a makeshift home with their small china dog. This begins to happen frequently, and soon she is convinced that the voices are speaking about her. One day while exploring the house, Maggie hears voices having a conversation but cannot locate the speakers. Maggie attends the New Adelphi Hills school, where she alienates her classmates with her sullenness and strangeness. The only person who makes an effort to connect with her is Uncle Morris, who, while funny and playful, often frustrates Maggie with his cryptic answers. Maggie spends much of her time alone in Adelphi Hills, playing imaginary games and exploring the many empty rooms. By the end of her first day, Maggie is already in disgrace for refusing to eat her meals and rummaging through the aunts' rooms, which they mistake for stealing. Upon arriving, Maggie is unsurprised to learn that her great-aunts are strict, stern, and do not really care about her they plan to use their rigid rules regarding nutrition and exercise to rehabilitate Maggie as an example of healthful living. At last she comes to Adelphi Hills-a former boarding school that ceased functioning after the death of its founders-to live with her only living relatives: Great-Aunts Lillian and Harriet and her eccentric but kind uncle Morris.
SynopsisĪt twelve, Maggie has already been thrown out of numerous foster homes and boarding schools for lying, stealing, and disobedience. Behind the Attic Wall is a children's novel by Sylvia Cassedy, first published in 1983.
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