Marianne Dreams is a 1958 coming-of-age fantasy novel by Catherine Storr. It has been published in multiple editions and languages, and was adapted for the screen twice: into a TV miniseries called Escape Into Night in 1972, and into a British feature film in 1988 called Paperhouse. A sequel book was released titled Marianne and Marc.
The book tells the story of a girl who is sick in bed, using a magical drawing pencil to travel to another world in her dreams. There she meets a boy named Marc, who lives in the crooked, lopsided house that she drew. As Marianne becomes more and more attached to her dream world, she begins to find herself in danger.
Marianne Dreams is part 1 of a 2-book series called "Marianne and the Magic Drawing Pencil".
The book contains examples of the following tropes:
- All Girls Like Ponies: Marianne's biggest disappointment in being sick and bedridden is that she can't go horseback riding at her pony lessons.
- Anomalous Art: Marianne (unintentionally at first). The more she learns about her drawn world, the more easily she learns to manipulate it.
- Coming of Age Story: Marianne Dreams is this trope in pretty much every way. Ironically, getting caught up in the escapism of a fantasy world is what leads to Marianne's maturity developing.
- Delicate and Sickly: Marianne, the titular character.
- Marc, who in the real world is a boy with polio.
- Magical Land: Marianne is able to live in the fantasy world she created for herself by drawing it in a notebook.
- Nice Guy: Marc.
