Best friends Mary Lennox, Sara Crewe, and Cedric Erroll have each other, and they are the only reason boarding school isn’t completely insufferable.
Tragically, Mary’s father passes away after he’s stripped of his fortune, leaving her orphaned and with just one possession: a ticket to a ship that will bring her to the home of her last living relative, in America. But Cedric can’t bear to say goodbye, and reveals that he’s the son of an earl with endless riches . . . and a huge estate that the three of them can run away to, leaving the boarding school–and thoughts of America–behind.
That’s when Sara and Cedric discover that there’s more to them than friendship, and Mary begins spending time with a handsome local boy–a relationship that quickly blossoms into romance.
It turns out that Maythem Estate is more than just a getaway–it’s a secret garden of budding romance.
Filled with charm, romance, and swoon, and inspired by some of classic literature’s most beloved characters, The Secret Princess is the perfect blend of A Little Princess and The Secret Garden— and the perfect companion to Jo & Laurie.
A Little Princess and The Secret Garden are two of my favourite children's classics, so I was really excited to read this. Sadly, my proof copy has a formatting error where some letters are missing, meaning I constantly had to stop and decipher what I was reading; I couldn't get swept away in the words and story.
And I really wanted to get swept away. The language is amazing, exactly as Burnett would have written. Mary and Sara are her two most famous creations, while Cedric, here, is a mixture of Little Lord Fauntleroy, and Colin Craven, Mary's cousin. Cedric has the Fauntleroy title and wealth, Colin's backstory and health as well as his servants, and a couple of extraneous siblings who don't really feature. Lots of the secondary characters from both Princess and Garden feature, although lots are left out as well - there's no Ermengarde or Lottie, because Mary and Cedric fill the spots as Sara's friends. Lavinia is still there, and Miss Minchin is more openly cruel and angry this time around.
It's not all perfect. The book opens with a flashback to Mary's childhood in India, jumps ahead ten years to a scene in the seminary for no reason other than to show that the three characters are friends and that Minchin dislikes the two girls, then goes backwards to Sara's arrival at the seminary and jumps forward smaller amounts to cover all the important bits of the friendship. That one isolated scene didn't need to be there. Besides that, a few threads are dropped as we go through; Becky's storyline stops dead with no resolution, and Cousin Craven vanishes with no further mentions as well.
However, almost everything brought up during this story has a resolution and an ending. I loved watching everything come together at the end. The language is fantastic and I will definitely be looking out for the companion novel Jo & Laurie as well. This is an amazing retelling of some of my favourite books. Maybe you'd like to do Heidi next, ladies? I'd love to see what you made of it!
A Secret Princess publishes on the 28th June, 2022. I was given a free copy and am writing an honest review.
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