Every Little Girl Is Born A Princess, From The Age Of Seven It's Decreed
Characters: Sara Crewe, Miss Minchin, Amelia Minchin, Becky, and the girls of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary For Young Ladies.
Premise: A pampered but sweet-natured young girl loses her fortune and is severely overworked and abused, though she never loses her sweet disposition.
Sara Crewe. I can hear the opening strains of the play I was part of with this one. Yes, Sara (who's seven at the start of the novel) is pampered and spoiled by her father, but surprisingly, she is very down to Earth and is willing to fight against injustice. She quickly makes friends with Ermengarde and mothers little Lottie, and goes toe-to-toe with Lavinia. Honestly, both Lavenia and Lottie both need a good swift swat on the butt. Lavinia is a bully and Lottie throws tantrums, which, okay, Lottie's four-years-old at the start of the book, so she's learning what's appropriate and inappropriate, and Lord have mercy, Amelia trying to cajole her in one breathe and threatening her in the next breath was unhelpful as all get out. Honestly, just spank the child and be done with it! But Sara sets things to right and things settle down even as Sara makes friends with the scullery maid Becky.
Also, I have to wonder, just exactly, how good is this school? It's constantly stated that Ermengarde is a dunce at her studies and later after her loss of fortune, Sara's seen tutoring the younger kids, so is it that they don't have money for actual tutors despite there being a French tutor for the girls? Or is Miss Minchin just stingy? Let's face it. She's probably just stingy, the old bat. Maybe if you had, oh, I don't know, worked with Ermengarde or had gotten her a tutor, she wouldn't be so bad at her studies, you think of that? Knowing you, probably not.
Of course, as all who've read this know, it's revealed on Sara's eleventh birthday that her father has died leaving her penniless after a business venture he was chasing (he invested in diamond mines. I have no idea if this is actually a thing, though it'd be cool if it was) has failed and Miss Minchin seizes practically everything that Sara owns and then turns her into a scullery maid just like Becky to "earn her keep". Was this legal? Back then, probably. Would it be legal today? I have no clue. I would imagine that today, there would be a will left behind with explicit instructions as to Sara's care, but of course if that happens, we don't have much of a story and that would be pretty boring, I think. So cue Miss Minchin being a sourpuss and halting Sara's birthday party to tell her that her father's died. Like, lady, it's her birthday. Let the girl have that before you completely upend her entire world.
After that, Sara spends the next two years being treated as nothing more than a servant and even though she has a hard time of it, she never loses hope or her sweet disposition, even encouraging Becky to imagine blankets and food on the worst nights. Another example of Sara's kindness is when she buys six pieces of bread and then gives five of the pieces to another girl who Sara realizes is even hungrier than she is. The girl is overworked, she's being starved, things are looking bleak. Honestly, at this point, I've always been ready to just rear back, wind up an arm, and slug Miss Minchin. This is very obviously child abuse. Maybe not completely physically abusive (though there's some of that mentioned in the book), but Sara's probably the reason child labor laws became a thing in this reality.
One of my favorite parts in this book is when Ram Dass sneaks into Sara's "bedroom" and adorns it with rugs, blankets, food, and a fire, using the specifications that Sara had mentioned when she was "supposing" with Becky about what they had. I loved the imagery used and it kind of made me wish that I could've been in the book for that scene alone.
What no one knows---and I really love that we got to see their point of view---is that Sara's father's friend, Tom Carrisford, has been looking for her after her father father's death, chasing lead after lead, and he eventually finds her two years later, when the monkey of Carrisford's servant, Ram Dass runs away again and goes straight to Sara's attic. Lord, this thing needs a leash or a cage or something. 🤣 Fortunately, it works out because they soon learn that Sara is the girl they're searching for and happily, the diamond mines have actually panned out and Sara and Becky go to live with the Carrisford's.
I really love this book. As stated, it's one of my favorites, and I don't mind that Sara's father is actually dead. Sometimes, life just works out that way. It's sad, it bites, but it's realistic. I just really wish that Miss Minchin would've gotten a bigger comeuppance than her sister growing a backbone and yelling at her. She abused people in her employ. I wanted charges to be pressed. Alas, not that type of book. That aside, I would give this a solid 10.
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