SuitabookBehind the Attic Wall
Sylvia Cassedy
- Reading
- Read alongside the child if the shifting reality feels unsettling. Pause after Maggie’s arrival and after the voices emerge, inviting questions about her feelings without insisting on a single explanation.
- Themes
- Belonging after rejection: Maggie has been removed from many schools, arrives without parents at relatives’ home and eventually begins to open up to a true family. The book?s stance on this remains unclear.
- Adults’ judgements and a child’s inner life: Adults label Maggie as difficult and repeatedly remove her, while the narrative gradually reveals fantasies, objects and voices that shape her experience. The book?s stance on this remains unclear.
- Fantasy, voices and uncertain reality: The book addresses fantasy, voices and uncertain reality; the detail of how it is developed remains unclear. The story appears to use fantasy to represent or enable connection, while preserving uncertainty about what Maggie experiences as real.
- Worth knowing
- Consider whether the combination of orphanhood, repeated rejection, an unwelcoming home, ghostly voices and an unsettled inner life suits the reader’s current circumstances. The book’s ending and full intensity are not clear here.