May 2014 Guest Editor Daisy Goodwin on A Little Princess...
This book about a little girl ,who after the death of her father is forced to work as a maid in the school where she was once a parlour boarder, had a profound effect on my imagination. I was transfixed by the scene where Sara Crewe wakes up to find that her drafty garret has been transformed into a bedroom fit for a princess. I read those chapters every night for about three years. It was a great training for my career in makeover tv.
This classic British tale tells the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl who grows up at a boarding school run by the unkindly Miss Minchin.
Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess tells the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl who has been left at a boarding school by her wealthy father. There, she displays all the attributes of an ideal pupil, treating the other children with kindness and compassion. But the headmistress, Miss Minchin, is jealous of Sara's wealth and seizes the first opportunity to put the young girl "in her place" when misfortune strikes. This handsome Word Cloud edition of the classic children's novel includes black-and-white illustrations by Ethel Franklin Betts and a heat-burnished cover with foil stamping, making it a wonderful addition to the bookshelf.
Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in Manchester in 1849. After living in poverty, she emigrated to the US in 1865. She wrote over forty books; the best-known today are The Secret Garden, A Little Princess and Little Lord Fauntleroy. She died in 1924.
