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The Story of Opal is a book by Opal Whiteley. Essentially the journal of an unusually creative girl, who grew up in logging camp sites but alleged to be of noble descent, and took the literary world by storm.

A lyrical, lovely, and deeply touching adaptation of an authentic journal kept by an orphaned six-year-old girl--later believed to be a French princess--living in an Oregon lumber camp at the turn of the century. 24 black-and-white photographs.

Excerpt from The Story of Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart For those whom Nature loves, the Story of Opal is an open book. They need no introduction to the journal of this Understanding Heart. But the world, which veils the spirit and callouses the instincts, makes curiosity for most people the criterion of interest. They demand facts and backgrounds, theories and explanations, and for them it seems worth while to set forth something of the child's story undisclosed by the diary, and to attempt to weave together some impressions of the author. Last September, late one afternoon. Opal Whiteley came into the Atlantic's office, with a book which she had had printed in Los Angeles. It was not a promising errand, though it had brought her all the way from the Western coast, hoping to have published in regular fashion this volume, half fact, half fancy, of The Fairyland Around Us, the fairyland of beasts and blossoms, butterflies and birds. The book was quaintly embellished with colored pictures, pasted in by hand, and bore a hundred marks of special loving care. Yet about it there seemed little at first sight to tempt a publisher. Indeed, she had offered her wares in vain to more than one publishing house; and as her dollars were growing very few, the disappointment was severe. But about Opal Whiteley herself there was something to attract the attention even of a man of business - something very young and eager and fluttering, like a bird in a thicket. The talk went as follows: - "I am afraid we can't do anything with the book. But you must have had an interesting life. You have lived much in the woods?" About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The author of the popular The Tao of Pooh brings back the forgotten diaries of Opal Whiteley, which were the literary sensation of 1920 but surrounded by scandal soon after. Hoff also tells the tale of Opal herself, a gifted but disturbed little girl who was destroyed when her private fantasies were exposed to public scrutiny. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.