Help me, Obi-wan - looking for a book

[jo zebedee]

I've posted in other forums looking for this, but no joy. Here goes:

It was a YA book, I read it in hard back in the 80s. I think it was by a woman writer. The front cover showed the main character with a mane of coloured hair.

In the book, people are mostly like sheep, following rules in life without thinking. But the main character and a small few others are able to think freely (and must try to hide this.)

One scene involved an escalator where one person failed to step off and others fell on top of her because they didn't have the initiative not to step over her.

I think the main character escaped the city and joined a group of free thinkers.

And that's it. All I can remember. Anyone...?

 

[Alucard]

Moved to appropriate subforum.
No clue what the book is.

 

[jo zebedee]

Moved to appropriate subforum.
No clue what the book is.

Oops, apologies - because this was in the fantasy sub-forum, I wasn't sure if sf requests went into it too.

 

[Alucard]

It's ok, no big deal.
The way I see it the forum is called Help Me Remember That Book Name... It doesn't say which genre. But if any mod think this is fantasy only, feel free to move it.

 

[ofer]

Sounds like The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke (which was originally published a few years earlier in a slightly shorter version under the name Against the Fall of Night).

Fits most details. Don't remember the escalator scene, but it's been some time since I've read it, so it's possible it was there.

 

[jo zebedee]

Sounds like The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke (which was originally published a few years earlier in a slightly shorter version under the name Against the Fall of Night).

Fits most details. Don't remember the escalator scene, but it's been some time since I've read it, so it's possible it was there.

Thank you, but no (although I like The City and The Stars a lot.)

This one was for a teen audience, it didn't have the tech level of ACC and was more character driven.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

For some reason, that made me think of the short story "Repent Harlequin! said the tick-tock man" by Harlan Ellison

I don't think so, but maybe.

 

[jo zebedee]

For some reason, that made me think of the short story "Repent Harlequin! said the tick-tock man" by Harlan Ellison

I don't think so, but maybe.

Sadly not, thank you (but it looks fab.)

 

[Boreas]

Hmm, kind of sounds like Tanith Lee's Don't Bite the Sun, but I can't be sure. Does the word "jang" joggle any neurons?

 

[jo zebedee]

Hmm, kind of sounds like Tanith Lee's Don't Bite the Sun, but I can't be sure. Does the word "jang" joggle any neurons?

No, but that is the nearest anyone has come and it's really close. It must be from the same era looking at the covers (and going by my age - I probably read it about 82/83.)

It must have been by soneone quite well known - it was a hardback in my local library and, even in those days they tended to buy things in demand.

The cover (I have a photographic memory and can see just about everything except the title and author) had a green-haired bloke with a sea in the background and was very vivid, so definitely the right era.
I'll go search for books like Tanith Lee. Thank you. This has given me hope.

(Anyone else convinced when they find these elusive books they'll be rubbish, or is that just me?)