When young Sara Crewe is brought from India to London by her doting father to join Miss Minchin's school, she can have little idea of the change in circumstances that lie ahead. While at first her life of privilege continues, the tragic death of her father and failure of his business change everything. In a dramatic reversal of the tradition fictional 'rags to riches' formula, Sara plunges from privilege to penury in the space of one day. Now she is no longer a princess but a beggar, and must depend on the power of her imagination and optimism and the kindness of strangers to lift her above the misery of her circumstances. She is cast out from the comfort of her rooms as Miss Minchin's 'show pupil' into the chill despair of a lonely garret, and set to endure back-breaking work in the school. But if humility, patience and dignity are virtues to be rewarded, will Sara perhaps experience another reversal in her fortunes? A Little Princess is a timeless and gripping drama about the transformative power of positive thought and the imagination.

With an Afterword by Anna South.