[JaneHathaway]

Hi to all, I hope you can help...

I read this book several times in the 5th and 6th grade, so I assume it would be considered Young Adult fiction. It's not of the same literary quality (or length) of The Chronicles of Narnia, but I read that series at roughly the same age.

I think that the author was British, and a woman. Because I can remember where in the school library this book was shelved, I am reasonably sure the author's last name began with a D. I think the title was something similar to "The Missing Boy" or "The Hidden Door".

The main character is a young girl (early teens), living with her step-father and step-sister (step-sisters?). Her mother has passed away. The step-father is kind, in a forgetful, useless sort of way, the step-sister(s) not so much wicked or mean, as just resentful of a non-relative sharing their household. I think the step-father is unemployed, or at least they didn't have much money. The girl and her mother were from the East End or some other working-class area, the girl speaks with a Cockney accent but the step-family does not. She is teased by her step-sister about this, is shy at school, maybe doesn't have many friends.

One day she goes to the movies, the feature is in 3D. She carelessly tucks the glasses into her pocket, instead of returning them to the usher on the way out. Upon arriving at home and going to her room, she finds the glasses and puts them on. She sees a door in her wall that is not visible without the glasses. She opens the door and passes into an
Alternate reality.

Some of the people she meets in this world seem vaguely familiar, but most are just odd. There is an actual Ivory Tower, where an evil or mysterious man lives/works. She goes back and forth between the two worlds several times, until she resolves the conflicts in her own life and solves a mystery in the alternate reality A young blind boy is a central character with an alter-ego in the "other world". Around which the mystery is constructed.

Any help would be deeply appreciated, even if only to offer a link to another site such as this one where I might find an answer.

TIA,
Jane Hathaway

[JaneHathaway]

I forgot to add, this book was probably written in the early 1960's or possibly the late 1950's. I read this book circa 1965/66 and the book was not new to the shelves. The book-jacket had a pen and ink drawing of the "other world", including possibly the girl, the boy, and the 3D glasses in the foreground, and the Ivory Tower in the distance.