A young, shy, and lonely girl visits her (aunt, grandmother, ?) for the summer. She cuts her long hair, referred to as “her glory,” that her mother refused to let her cut. After she cuts her hair, she experiences a “freeing” self confidence boost. I read this probably in the late 60s to 70s.
Stump the Bookseller
New format, same book stumper solving.
The hair cutting part reminds me of Mary Stolz’s The Seagulls Woke Me. However, in that story, the shy, socially awkward girl is going to work for the summer at a resort in Maine. The book was probably published in the early 1950’s.
Did she cut it off or just shorter and hid the changing length by braiding it?
I think this might be Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
Definitely not Emily of New Moon. She wins a battle defying her Aunt Elizabeth, to make sure her long hair is NOT cut.
Doesn’t completely fit, but maybe You Were Princess Last Time by Laura Fisher? The girl doesn’t go away, but the story is set over the summer and there’s an aunt who’s always lecturing her. Her hair gets cut accidentally- maybe because she gets gum in it?- and her friends make fun of her, but she learns to stand up for herself.
Did it have fairies in it? Could it be A Fairy to Stay, 1929, by Margaret Beatrice Lodge?
“Pamela Perry lived with her elderly aunts because her mother had died and her father was working in East Africa. Pamela thought it was nicer when she was little and had a nurse to play with her and tell her stories, but Nurse left to get married and Pamela was now alone with the Aunts. The Aunts were very strict and decided that Pamela would be taught by them at home, instead of going to school. Lessons weren’t very interesting. The Aunts decided that Pamela would grow her hair in a long braid, and all the other girls Pamela saw had short hair. One day, after Aunt Isabella found Pamela reading a book of fairy tales before her math lesson, Aunt Isabella declared Pamela was too old for such books and took it away. That day, Pamela cut her braid off with the Aunts’ scissors. In disgrace, she was sent to the garden. There, once she had finished crying, she met a real fairy, and Pamela’s life began to change.”