When I saw the book cover, I thought it’s a ghost story until I read that it’s about a *painfully* shy girl, Anna Newland, who turned herself into a total recluse at 7 years old by hiding herself away in passageways and secret rooms she built in her family’s Victorian mansion.
A middle child with two other sisters, Andrea and Kirsty, Anna’s mother knew she had a problem when she refused to attend preschool. Finally, when Anna was told that she HAD to attend school, the young girl panicked.
For nearly 7 years, she lived by herself in the secret rooms, only showing her presence briefly (like a ghost) to her younger sister, Kirsty.
She went berserk when she hit puberty at 12 and let her hair grow matted, her body grow stinky with body odour and her acne run wild. After a while, she thought:
“Was I really a monster? Or was I just plain dirty? If I washed and combed my hair, cleaned the dirt out from under my nails and changed into clean clothes…”
she realized that she looked quite presentable 
Anna is happy in her own little world when she discovers a note written by ‘F’ declaring his love for ‘A’. She posts a reply and is surprised to find another note in return! They begin a regular correspondence…
One day, Anna overhears her mother dating a man who wants to marry her and move the family to a new house.
Furious and angry that she would be abandoned after all she had done for them (young Anna is a wonderful seamstress who makes beautiful clothes and also a handy repairman!), she flung herself about and drummed her heels against the wall in a rage.
‘F’ hears her and he and Kirsty visit Anna in her secret world. Together, they hatch a plan to bring Anna back into the real world. Will Anna be able to come out of her shell? With her friends’ help, she just may be able to…
Reading “The Woman in the Wall” gave me an idea of how an extremely shy person feels about herself and about everyone around her. I’m an outgoing person but I do have friends who need a bit of prodding, urging or threats to join in activities and events.
Just like Anna in the book, these “shy” friends of mine got more help from annoying friends like me (who is always bugging them to join in) than parents who:
a) declare to the rest of the world (in their presence) that their kid is “shy” or
b) ‘force’ them to join in activities and events when they clearly don’t want to.
Seriously, this makes the problem worse! If you have a shy child or if you’re shy yourself, do read about Anna’s experiences in “The Woman in the Wall”.
Rating: 
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
hmm quite interesting story
Mat Amit – It is, just hope you can find the book here!