YA (Preteens?) - Gothic, Victorian, Chinese Cat Gods in Heroine's Dreams

[Heather]

I read the book in the 00s, shortly after the author died. I went on a message forum at the time and saw that she was a famous YA author, but no one there heard of the book that I read. It was at my middle school library, the cover looked gothic, and it was an easy read.

It was set in the Victorian era and the main character had a distinct hairstyle that she thought was fashionable but the other characters had never seen it before ("That ain't no fashion."). I'm pretty sure her hair was just like Kirsten from the American Girl books (round braids in front of the ears). She ends up staying at some gothic mansion, but at night she keeps having a strange dream. Chinese cats dancing. I think she kept going outside at night to dance with the cats.

[Kris]

Heather, is this a horror novel (e.g., long shot - Witch House by Evangeline Walton which has different cover images)?

Review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Heather]

Holy cow, I'm like 90% sure that's the one. I'll get it from the library or order it on Amazon this weekend and get back to you.

[Heather]

The library finally got back to me and said that they exhausted their resources and couldn't find the book in any library, so they gave me a form where you request a book for the library to buy. I filled it out and they're supposed to get back to me on that. I'll give them some time, but if I don't hear back I'll just buy it.

[Kate]

Heather ~~
My experience from interlibrary loans in my city is that it takes awhile to get the book. So patience is good. However, since it has been almost seven months, I hope you have that book by now.
Was it your book? Please let us know one way or the other. We crave closure!