The book doesn't say anything about his mother, only that he is visiting his father. When John is about to leave for the box in the evening, the father feels sorrow, but we don't know why.covenant6452 wrote:But I think he was grieving for his lost mother and it was her who approached and put her hand to his, letting him know everything was alright. Then, he sends the box to her via sea-mail.
And - the castle isn't in the book. Instead, John is reading Tintin comics until he is tired; then he goes to sleep and is awakened by the sound of the entity's steps approaching. And the story ends as the entity leaves.
The Norwegian edition of Paper walls is only 8 pages long, in the original Swedish paperback a bit shorter due to smaller font.withinfocus wrote:Yeah, I'll have to read it. For anyone interested, there's a story I read a few years ago that I think was written very well by A.S. Byatt, "The Thing in the Forest". It has some similarities to this and I recommend checking it out. It's maybe 20 pages.