Queen in the Attic

Lies, a nine-year old girl, is living alone with her Indonesian mother. Her Dutch father is a sailor and usually away at sea. Her mother always expects the house to be tidy “After all, you never know when you may get unexpected visitors.”

That’s why Lies has to help her clean after school every afternoon. Her mother insists that old things or objects with a small flaw have to be taken to the attic. “Out of sight, safely locked away.” Just like grandmother, who’s living in the attic and not allowed off.

Lies loves visiting her grandmother. When she does, they pretend the queen is visiting, but whenever her mother notices, she throws a fit and tells Lies to stop dreaming. “The queen doesn’t visit regular people!” Grandmother tells her this is nonsense. When she was Lies’ age, the queen did pay her a visit. And when Lies has won her school’s poetry contest, she will visit Lies as well this year. Grandmother is quite sure of it.

Lies has written a beautiful poem about a queen in the attic, but when her teacher collects the poems, her jealous neighbor girl, Bernizcha, secretly switches the poems.

Lies’ poem wins, but now the queen will visit Bernizcha. When Lies gets home and tells grandmother that her poem has won, but that the queen will visit their neighbors, grandmother is so overcome with joy, that she only hears half the story and tells Lies’ mother that the queen is going to visit them.

Her mother’s joy – “Finally we’re going to have visitors, and no one less than the queen, at that!” – makes it impossible for Lies to tell her the painful truth.

Lies decides that she has to ensure that the queen will visit them after all, and she’s helped by her grandmother in the process.