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lizziecI did start a third book, Boldness Be My Friend but A Little Princess turned up so I read it first - over the course of an evening, because I found it un-put-down-able. I realise it's a children's book, but I've never read it before and recently wanted to. I don't know why I didn't read it when I was younger - I have devoured The Secret Garden on many occasions and it's one of those books I keep going back to. I suspect A Little Princess will be similar in that.
This book proved virtally impossible to get from a physical bookshop in town, so I got it from amazon, here. It was very easy to read as you would expect both from a Children's book, and from a book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and in some ways covered similar themes to The Secret Garden. The main character is orphaned and has to approach life on their own. The main character starts life in India. That's more or less where the similarities end.
The main character, Sara Crewe, is a little girl of 7 who has a huge imagination. She is left at Miss Minchin's seminary for young girls by her father so she can receive an english education while he goes back to India as he is in the Army. She is pampered beyond belief, but never becomes spoiled in spite of it (sounds a bit like Robin in CSland) and is the pride and joy of Miss Minchin because she is so beautifully dressed and turned out and lauded as the star pupil. All this changes one birthday when it is revealed that her father has died penniless after investing in some diamond mines and she is cast out of her bedroom and sitting room, all her beautiful things taken to be sold to pay for her keep. She is sent to live in one of the attics and work as a maid. Through a traumatic two years in which she looks more and more like a beggar and is barely fed, her imagination sustains her, and her friends rally round her as best they can (Sara appears to be a character who attracts people to her). Eventually it turns out that the gentleman next door was the man who was her father's business partner and the diamond mines have prospered and he has been looking for her for two years.
My main thought was that Captain Crewe's business partner's lawyer must have been rather ineffective not to have found her for two years. Granted, noone knew where Sara had been left, but I find it hard to believe that the father would not have left some letters with an address or the lawyer engaged would not have checked with other lawyers in London at least. If he had he would have found Captain Crewe's lawyer and found Sara much sooner.
Having said that, my objections are based on how believable a 24 year old finds some of the plot details. Really, the story is very well written and the characters are well drawn. It's a lovely story, and I particularly like the way her imagination shows various situations and helps her to cope, but overall I find Sara just a little too good to be true.
Overall, I prefer The Secret Garden, but I would definitely read A Little Princess again. I suspect it will become very much a comfort book that I go back to again and again as and when I need a book that's easy to read and a bit like a cosy blankie :)
CBB Book a Week challenge 2008
1/52, Stasiland by Anna Funder
2/52, The Nazis, A Warning from History by Laurence Rees
This book proved virtally impossible to get from a physical bookshop in town, so I got it from amazon, here. It was very easy to read as you would expect both from a Children's book, and from a book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and in some ways covered similar themes to The Secret Garden. The main character is orphaned and has to approach life on their own. The main character starts life in India. That's more or less where the similarities end.
The main character, Sara Crewe, is a little girl of 7 who has a huge imagination. She is left at Miss Minchin's seminary for young girls by her father so she can receive an english education while he goes back to India as he is in the Army. She is pampered beyond belief, but never becomes spoiled in spite of it (sounds a bit like Robin in CSland) and is the pride and joy of Miss Minchin because she is so beautifully dressed and turned out and lauded as the star pupil. All this changes one birthday when it is revealed that her father has died penniless after investing in some diamond mines and she is cast out of her bedroom and sitting room, all her beautiful things taken to be sold to pay for her keep. She is sent to live in one of the attics and work as a maid. Through a traumatic two years in which she looks more and more like a beggar and is barely fed, her imagination sustains her, and her friends rally round her as best they can (Sara appears to be a character who attracts people to her). Eventually it turns out that the gentleman next door was the man who was her father's business partner and the diamond mines have prospered and he has been looking for her for two years.
My main thought was that Captain Crewe's business partner's lawyer must have been rather ineffective not to have found her for two years. Granted, noone knew where Sara had been left, but I find it hard to believe that the father would not have left some letters with an address or the lawyer engaged would not have checked with other lawyers in London at least. If he had he would have found Captain Crewe's lawyer and found Sara much sooner.
Having said that, my objections are based on how believable a 24 year old finds some of the plot details. Really, the story is very well written and the characters are well drawn. It's a lovely story, and I particularly like the way her imagination shows various situations and helps her to cope, but overall I find Sara just a little too good to be true.
Overall, I prefer The Secret Garden, but I would definitely read A Little Princess again. I suspect it will become very much a comfort book that I go back to again and again as and when I need a book that's easy to read and a bit like a cosy blankie :)
CBB Book a Week challenge 2008
1/52, Stasiland by Anna Funder
2/52, The Nazis, A Warning from History by Laurence Rees
