Frances Hodgson-Burnett (1849-1924) was a popular and much-respected children's writer. Her most famous works are probably "A Little Princess", "The Secret Garden" and the much-maligned "Little Lord Fauntleroy", though she also wrote some adult novels.

"A Little Princess" (first published in 1905) tells the riches to rags story of Sarah Crewe, who is the daughter of a widowed army captain in India. As was the tradition at the time, she was sent to boarding school; the school in question being Miss Minchin's Academy in London. Captain Crewe dotes on his daughter, and pays higher fees so she can live in more luxury than the other girls. Despite this, she is popular and kind-hearted, and the sycophantic and snobbish Miss Minchin singles her out for special treatment, too. But all this ends when her father dies, and it transpires he has lost all his money. Sarah is relegated to a dingy attic room with rats, but consoles herself thinking she is a prisoner in the Bastille.

Help comes in the form of the kindly neighbour Mr Carrisford - who, it turns out, was a friend of Captain Crewe, and reports of the demise of his diamond mines, if not, sadly, himself, have been greatly exaggerated. Aided and abetted by his Indian servant Ram Dass and his pet monkey, he saves Sarah from her misery.

The book has been filmed and televised many times, and despite some rather dated elements, remains popular.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org